Port of Qinhuangdao

Port of Qinhuangdao is a strategically important port on China and is the largest coal shipping port in the country, much of which is shipped to power plants elsewhere in China.

With recent expansion, its capacity has reached 209 million metric tons. The harbor is also adding a further six berths to add further capacity and is increasingly being invested in by other port operators, such as South Africa's Richards Bay Coal Terminal, who have announced plans to invest US$150 million to increase capacity by at least 28 percent.

China is also the world's third largest coal exporter, and Qinhuangdao is expected to handle much of the nation's coal exports. Rail links from Shanxi province (China’s largest coal producer) to Qinhuangdao Port are in the process of being upgraded, which should allow for Qinhuangdao to ultimately increase its throughput to 400 million tones of coal per annum from its current level of about 250 million tons by 2015.

Qinhuangdao is located along the Beijing−Shenyang Expressway which links Beijing with Shenyang, Liaoning.

It was reported in June 2012 that coal inventories at the port had an oversupply of coal. Along with the Port of Qinhuangdao, Tangshan and Huanghua ports also had oversupplies of coal, potentially impacting the China coal market.

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