The world's largest passenger-cargo ro-ro terminal project, Xuwen Port transport hub in Zhanjiang, south China's Guangdong province began to install its steel frame structure on May 20.

Located at the "throat" of the continental end of Qiongzhou Strait's "golden channel" in Nanshan village, Xuwen county, the transport hub is hailed as a "Strait Channel Project", designed to handle 3.2 million vehicles and 17.28 million passengers annually.

Upon its completion, travel time across the Qiongzhou Strait will be shortened from between two to three hours to less than two hours.

Constructed by a subsidiary of China State Construction Engineering Corporation, the project goes up three floors aboveground. Its structure consists of frameworks and steel grids. It includes wind resistant columns, trusses, and a corridor bridge, with about 4,300 tons of steel to be used.

A project manager from China Construction Steel Structure Corporation said that the team will brave difficulties like hot weather, shortage of fresh water, and tide in rainy season to finish the work in three months.

Xuwen county is the only path from the Qiongzhou Strait to Hainan Island, and has been an important port since ancient times. It is also the starting point of the ancient Silk Road of the Han Dynasty (206BC-AD 220).

With the development of the Belt and Road Initiative and the Hainan Pilot Free Trade Zone, the Xuwen Port Transport Hub project is a key project of Zhanjiang and the province, serving as a bridgehead to Hainan and the "South Gate" of Guangdong.

A steel structure of the Xuwen Bay Transport Hub project is lifted by a hoisting facility on May 20. [Photo/Xinhua]