The Zhuangyuanao port area of Wenzhou Port. [Photo/chinaport.com]
Made-in-Wenzhou products can now be directly shipped to the west coast of the United States without the need for transfer at major ports in Shanghai and Ningbo, local media outlets reported on April 14.
This has been made possible as Wenzhou was recently listed by JJ Shipping Co as a transfer port in its ocean shipping line. It is expected to effectively alleviate the current circumstance of "hard to book a TEU" and also explore more possibilities for Wenzhou's foreign trade.
On April 25, the first batch of Wenzhou products will be transported to the west coast of the United States through this route.
To attract exports from Wenzhou and neighboring cities such as Jinhua and Taizhou, a discount of $1,000 per 40-foot container has been made available. This discount will help companies save 5,000 yuan ($785) and 2,000 yuan per TEU when compared with exporting from Shanghai and Ningbo to overseas respectively.
Wenzhou has a number of traditional pillar industries such as shoes and clothing, low voltage electrical, auto parts, and pumps and valves. It is also one of the key foreign trade cities in Zhejiang province.
The city's foreign trade reached 203.58 billion yuan in 2021, a year-on-year increase of 8.4 percent. Europe, Southeast Asia and the United States are major foreign trade partners of the city.
Wenzhou Port, which handled 1.04 million TEUs in container throughput last year, expects a throughput of 1.2 million TEUs this year.
Wenzhou has been striving to expand its international cargo transportation network in recent years. It has opened nine direct cargo air routes overseas and will unveil four new near-sea direct shipping routes this year.
