Xiamen is an important hub port located in the midpoint along the route between Shanghai and Hong Kong, facilitating the travels between the two. The world's top 20 shipping companies have all set up their businesses in Xiamen, establishing Xiamen as a destination of a great many major shipping routes and a big provider of shipment services.
Xiamen Port has ranked itself as one of the trunk line ports in the Asia-Pacific region. A total number of 68 shipping routes are now in service that lead to almost all the major ports in the world, bringing averagely 469 ship calls at the port each month. There are direct shipment connections to those big ports in Hong Kong, Japan, South Korea, Southeast Asia, Australia, Central South America, USA, Persia, Europe and the Middle East.

Basic Information of Xiamen Port:

Xiamen Port is the national first-class port. The coast line in the harbor area stretches for 30km and the depth of water reaches up to 17 meters.

Xiamen Port has altogether 70 berths, of which 1 berth is for 100,000-tonnage-above vessels, 23 berths are for 10,000-tonnage-above vessels and 2 berths for 5,000-tonnage-above vessels. There are 9 container terminals.

Xiamen Port is the 8th largest container port in China, and ranks 30th among the world's Top 100. It is the 4th port in China with the capacity to handle the sixth-generation large container vessels. In 2003, Xiamen port handled 34.04 million tons of cargo, including 2.33 million TEUs of containers,

Xiamen is the first port to start pilot direct cargo shipment with Kaohsiung in Taiwan , handling a total number of 1.34 million TEUS of containers.

Port Construction

Xiamen Port is one of the major ports in China and ranks within the 50th among the World Top 100 Container Ports (it is expected to enter into top 40 in 2002). It is the fourth port in China with the capacity to receive the sixth-generation large container vessels.

In 2001, Xiamen Port handled 20.989 million tons of cargo, including 1.293 million TEUs of containers.
Each month Xiamen Port dispatches 272 voyages to all over the world, covering all the major ports in the world (it is open to direct shipping service with 84 domestic and international ports).

Various big international shipping companies have opened shipping routes from Xiamen to all over the world in succession. Many well-known shipping companies have established Xiamen as their port base to explore the mainland market.

Xiamen is among the first ports to open pilot direct cargo services with Taiwan and 1.34 million TEUs of container cargo have been handled.
Xiamen port ranks the top 10 in China. It has a harbor line of 64.5 km with an average water depth of 12 meters. At present, the port has 16 berths for 10,000 - 50,000 tonnage cargo and container ship, and 18 berths for 5,000 tonnage-ship.

Each month Xiamen port dispatches 272 voyages to all over the world ,covering all the major ports ine the world(it's open to direct shiping service with 84 domestic and international ports),There are regular international and regional shipping lines between Xiamen and Hong Kong, Yokohama, Kobe, Osaka, Nagoya, Tokyo, Naha, Singapore, Penang, Kelang, Jakarta, Barcelona, Marseille, Naples, Los Angles, San Francisco. Main shipping routes, frequency and voyages are listed as follows:

Main Shipping Routes
Routes Frequency Days/ Voyage Destinations
Xiamen - Japan 25 3-14 Kobe , Moji, Osaka, Yokohama, Nagoya, Tokyo, Yokkaichi, Naha, Ishigaki, Miyako
Xiamen - America 16 7-32 Longbeach, Oakland, San Francisco, Los Angeles, Seattle.
Xiamen - Europe 8 33-37 Rotterdam, Hamburg, Antwerp, Zeeburgge, Le Herve, Bremerhaven
Xiamen - Mediterranean 9 33-37 Barcelona, Genoa, Neaples.
Xiamen - Australia 19-26 Sydney
Xiamen - Singapore 11 5 Singapore
Xiamen - South Korea 16 7 Pusan.
Xiamen - Kaohsiung 68 3 transfer to other ports in all over the world
Xiamen-Hong Kong 86 1 transfer to other ports in all over the world.
Xiamen - Viet Nam 4 1 Hochiminh
Xiamen - Thailand 4 1 Bangkok

Xiamen port handled 20.98 million tons of goods, including 1.29 million TEUs of containers in 2001. Xiamen Port ranks 58 of top world 100 ports.
Most global shipping lines and forwarding companies have their representative offices in Xiamen, which cover global shipping business and provide the same quality shipping services as their parent companies.

(2000)
In 2000, a total investment of 380 million RMB went to major port construction projects. By the end of 2000, there had been 7 harbours and 77 docks, 59.23% of the total number in Fujian, among which 18 were docks with a handling capacity of 10,000 tons, 43.9% of the total Fujian; one dock with a handling capacity of 100,000 tons, one was oil dock with a handling capacity of 10,000 tons and 7 were container docks. The general handling capacity was 19.48 million tons per year. Xiamen Port had marine links with over 60 ports in over 40 countries and regions. There were container ships sailing between Xiamen and domestic cities including Tianjin, Qingdao, Shanghai, Ningbo, Nanjing, Nantong and Shenzhen. There were also regular or irregular sailings to Hong Kong, Japan, Korea, Singapore, Taiwan, the Mediterranean, Europe and western coast of America.

In 2000, the total volume of handling capacity in Xiamen reached 19.6526 million tons, the 18th place among coastal ports in China and 28.3% of the number in Fujian, an increase of 10.82% over 1999. The volume of containers handled surpassed one million for the first time to 1.0846 million TEUs, an increase of 27.83% and the 6th place among China's container ports for the 4th year. The volume of imports and exports reached 11.6857 million tons, 42.09% of the total in Fujian and 59.46% of total cargos handled at Xiamen Port, an increase of 18.9%.
The water transport developed rapidly. There were increasing regular oceanic ships to Japan, Korea, Southeast Asia, Europe and the Mediterranean and America. Port of Xiamen became the 7th largest major container port in China. By the end of 2000, there had been 25 regular container routes among which 6 were newly added the year with 260 sailings per month. At the same time, the port attracted more and more large-scale ships. For the whole year, 195 super-large ships docked in Xiamen. On Sept. the first, 2000, "Sealand Washington", one of the largest and most advanced container ships of the 6th generation arrived in Xiamen, the first time Xiamen Port had ushered in such a giant. On April the 6th, 70,000-ton Lion Star, a luxurious passenger's ship sailed to Xiamen followed by 10,000-ton tanker "Cloud". As a result, the passenger transport turned from traditional business to travel service. More and more large-scale ships were involved in freight transport. Feeder transport gave way to main routes transport.

Cross-straits transport maintained a growth momentum. The volumes of containers to Taiwan reached 388,900 TEUs, an increase of 18.86%. Cross-straits direct sailings amounted to 306,200 TEUs, an increase of 14.1%, the percentage in the number of total containers handled decreasing from 31.63% in 1999 to 28.23%.

By the end of 2000, there had been 25 shipping companies and 28 water transport service companies and 6 shipping agents for international ships. There were 596 freight ships with a capacity of 624,000 tons and 89 passenger ships with 4720 seats.