A bird's-eye view of the Zhoushan New Area in Zhoushan, Zhejiang province. [Photo/Zhejiang Daily]

The Zhoushan New Area in Zhoushan, Zhejiang province, which was founded in 2013 and is the fourth national-level new area in the country following the Pudong New Area in Shanghai, the Binhai New Area in Tianjin and the Liangjiang New Area in Chongqing, has made remarkable achievements in economic and social development over the past 10 years.

Specifically, the new area has been channeling more resources to bolster its marine economy and has built nine industrial chains that cover green petrochemicals and new materials, bulk commodity trading, shipbuilding and port equipment manufacturing, renewable energy and equipment manufacturing, and marine electronic information.

The new area has also launched a series of platforms such as the pilot free trade zone, the comprehensive bonded zone and the sea-river coordinated transportation service center, and made 269 institutional innovation achievements, 125 of which are the first in the country; in addition, 32 institutions have been replicated and promoted to other regions.

The new area has also made significant strides in expanding port business, with 624 million metric tons of cargo throughput handled in 2022, while its traditional industries such as ship repair and aquatic products processing have also undertaken intelligent upgrading and digital transformation.

Authorities have also been making efforts to optimize the business environment by strengthening government services, improving urban and rural landscapes, and upgrading infrastructure such as transportation facilities.