Nansha is recently approved as an open registry that allow foreign-owned ships to register on by the Maritime Safety Administration of the People’s Republic of China on March 23.
Being an open registry, Nansha Free Trade Zone (FTZ) will attract more high-end international shipping enterprises and see opportunities to develop shipping service industries as ship financing, insurance, inspection and repair.
The international law requires trading ships traveling internationally or cross international borders to register on registries for proof of their nationalities and ownership.
Eligible international ships to register in Nansha should be on international routes or routes to Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan while belonging to the Chinese, foreign or joint enterprises established in the FTZ. Foreign-owned ships will not be restricted by the term that “the share of Chinese investors shall no less than 50 percent” as usual when registering in China’s FTZs, according to China’s Ministry of Transport.
The registration measures in the FTZs will be more convenient and efficient as well. For example, they allow online application and document pre-qualification so that shipping companies won’t be necessary to come and go for the application process.
Nansha held 204 thousand ships in 2016, and 16 thousand of which are on international routes. The importance of Nansha was also stressed by Hu Chunhua, Party Chief of Guangdong Province during his inspection tour earlier last month.
“We should integrate port resources and develop Nansha as an international shipping, financial and trade center, and eventually as the sub-center of Guangzhou that makes the city more opening-up,” he said.
Nansha is always seeking to strengthen its national and international connections, especially among the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Delta. Nansha Port will open a daily sailing route to Hong Kong International Airport from April 1. And it will be connected to Guangzhou’s CBD, train station and airport through two new metro lines according to the latest plan released by Guangzhou Municipal Development and Reform Commission.
Opportunities showing up in Nansha have attracted world’s top enterprises. COSCO Shipping, one of the Global 500, recently moved its headquarter to Nansha while Costa Victoria, the cruise belongs to world’s biggest cruise company, docked at Nansha Port and started its routes here to Japan, Hongkong and Vienam since Jan 29.
