The secrets of Jiangmen are mostly hidden in shipping containers.

The transformation process of Overseas Chinese Town has always been accompanied by prosperity and water.

In recent years, there have been many changes in Jiangmen.

Like Lego blocks by the sea, hundreds of containers are stacked at the port, and the crane operates like a giant hand, lifting and placing a container from the dock onto the cargo ship every few minutes.

YU Junming, chairman of the labor union and cultural manager of CIMC Group, said that the overall command is actually in the central control room of the Gaoxin Port. With just a few people, they can operate in real time and fill a 3000-ton ship with approximately 260 standard containers in about half a day.

Looking back at the transformation process of Jiangmen, a city of overseas Chinese, prosperity has always accompanied the water, closely following the development process of commerce from farming to the era of great navigation.

During the first millennium when people from the north migrated south across the Nanling Mountains to take root in the Pearl River Delta, this place was just a self-sufficient village society engaged in both farming and fishing. Under the rule of the Guangxu Emperor, with the opening of Guangzhou port, international trade opened the ports of cities in the Pearl River Delta, leading to the establishment of foreign firms, customs, and more.

Around that time, Jiangmen became involved in the global trade network. It is about 100 miles from Guangzhou and 80 miles from Macau, serving as a key transit station on the Maritime Silk Road. With the flow of goods and people, combined with internal and external troubles during the late Qing Dynasty, people from Jiangmen began using their maritime advantage to travel overseas, eventually becoming known as the "hometown of overseas Chinese" as we refer to it today.

Entering the era of reform and opening up, Jiangmen, due to its proximity to Hong Kong as a world-class transshipment port, vigorously developed its manufacturing industry, once occupying a core position in the Pearl River Delta economic circle. However, after the turn of the millennium, as larger ports like Shenzhen and Nansha emerged, Jiangmen began to seek its position between inland river trade and exports.

In 2017, the importance of the Pearl River system was once again highlighted with the inclusion of the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area in that year's government report. Jiangmen also began looking for its own path forward.

In the words of the officials, "Jiangmen has ushered in its best development opportunity in history."

City of Containers

At ports around the world, you will see containers labeled "Jiangmen CIMC." These containers mostly come from the container factory of China International Marine Containers (Group) Co. Ltd. (referred to as CIMC) in Jiangmen.

The reason CIMC chose to establish its presence in Jiangmen is because from the past to the present, the export business of goods such as motorcycles and small household appliances has been a major part of Jiangmen's local economy. This signifies that the entire economy of Jiangmen relies on transportation. Containers are an indispensable part of contemporary international trade.

In 1956, to address the transport of military supplies by the US military in the Vietnam War, Malcom McLean loaded containers onto the "Ideal-X," thus initiating the economic globalization of maritime cargo transportation. Since then, containers have become one of the barometers of import and export trade.

However, the global economic downturn a few years ago also dealt a blow to the container industry, and Jiangmen naturally could not escape its impact.

At that time, due to varying epidemic prevention standards in different regions, containers carrying goods were stranded overseas waiting for customs clearance after unloading.

Nevertheless, many export orders continued to pour in, fueling a strong demand for containers, forcing companies like CIMC to accelerate production.

By 2023, a backlog of returning containers and new orders disrupted the original order. Yu Junming mentioned that it was a rather difficult period, and it was only until now that import and export trade gradually stabilized and the container business returned to normal.

As import and export trade gradually returned to normal, Jiangmen's newly established combined port model also came into operation, naturally driving the demand for containers.

Yu Junming mentioned that the opening of Jiangmen Combined Port has made import and export more convenient, which will undoubtedly benefit the enterprises in the backend. "The more goods we import and export, the more demand there will be for containers."

Yu Junming also noted a change in Jiangmen's export products and destinations in the past two years. Firstly, the emergence of the "new three items," including energy-related products such as new energy vehicles and solar panels. To accommodate this, CIMC has developed special containers for transporting new energy vehicles. Instead of focusing on traditional destinations like Southeast Asia, they are now turning their attention to Europe and America.

Another change is that while small home appliances, motorcycles, and other manufacturing industries continue to be the mainstays of Jiangmen's exports, due to tariff issues between China and the U.S., many manufacturers have shifted from exporting whole products to exporting parts to maintain their operations.

Actual data also supports the prosperity of Jiangmen's import and export industry. According to Jiangmen Customs statistics, the total foreign trade import and export value in the first quarter of 2024 was 42.84 billion yuan, an increase of 8.1% from the same period last year, reaching a new high. This showed a strong start to the year.

Located in Xinhui, Jiangmen, Hua Jin Metal Products Co., Ltd., a manufacturer of coiled steel, has invested in building its own dock.

General Manager Huang Wenjie pointed out that finished coiled steel, due to its large volume and weight, has always relied on the lowest-cost shipping methods. Previously, to ship his goods, Huang had to transport them by truck to the port, load them into containers, and then onto ships, effectively incurring double freight costs. With the new policies of the Combined Port in place, he realized that this could save costs and improve efficiency in transportation.

After studying for a period of time, Huang decided to build a dock near his factory. With local policy support, the approval and construction process went smoother than expected. He is full of confidence in Jiangmen's future and believes that having their own dock will help the company better align with the "water economy" for development.

"The Combination of Ports" and the strategies behind it

The development history of navigation is probably a history of global trade development. The underlying theme is inland production, where goods are gathered at ports to participate in the global trade narrative, with ports being a crucial link in this story.

The importance of ports lies not only in the convenience of inland transportation costs but also in whether the ports have sufficient water depth for cargo ships to dock.

Geographically, Jiangmen enjoys sufficient advantages in this aspect.

There are few second-class ports like Jiangmen Gaoxin Port. In terms of size, it is no different from some first-class ports that can have direct international navigation. The only difference is that due to the shallow water of the inland river, super large ships cannot dock, and they need to transfer to larger ports. The advantage is that as the throat of the Xijiang River, Jiangmen can conveniently handle commercial goods from western Guangdong, Guangxi, and even Yunnan.

Take sugar as an example. In the midway of the Qing Dynasty when trade was open, Guangxi was an important sugar-producing center, but the import and export port was only in Guangzhou Prefecture. Therefore, Jiangmen became an important gateway in the Pearl River Delta during that era.

However, with the fall of the Qing Dynasty and the opening of trade in various regions, Jiangmen's advantages began to decline. Yet, against the backdrop of the continuous expansion of global trade volume, Jiangmen still plays a pivotal role in the maritime transportation of the Pearl River Delta.

This is also one of the reasons why China's container shipping giant, China International Marine Containers (CIMC), established a factory in Jiangmen in 1996.

Restricted by water depth and grade, Jiangmen used to only serve as a transit point in shipping. After the goods arrive at major external ports like Shekou, Yantian, and Nansha, they need at least over three days for inspection and processing before changing ships to sail into the high seas.

Water depth is an objective factor, but to address the lengthy waiting time for inspection and processing, Jiangmen introduced the concept of "combined port" to eliminate this drawback.

In this "combined port" model, Guangzhou or Shenzhen ports serve as the hub port, while various inland river docks like Jiangmen act as branch ports. Goods are directly transferred between the two ports via waterways. After the export goods are declared, inspected, and cleared at the branch port customs once, they are then shipped out directly on international ships departing from the hub port.

In summary, most of the goods shipped from Jiangmen will no longer require secondary declaration and inspection, and what used to take days can now be calculated in hours.

Lin Dong, who is engaged in import and export trade in Jiangmen, has firsthand experience of this. In his view, the fluctuations in trade volume and increased transportation costs brought about by the epidemic have directly impacted the revenue of Jiangmen enterprises. Moreover, the existing port order has yet to be broken, creating a dilemma for the inland port.

After the introduction of the combined port, each container can save 200-300 RMB for export enterprises, as Lin Dong emphasizes, import and export trade is a fiercely competitive race, where "every penny needs to be carefully considered."

Looking at just one traditional port like Gaosha, the cost saved in 2023, a month after the combined port opening, amounted to 1.3 million RMB. The same is true for Gaoxin Port. It is almost the largest inland port in terms of land area, where each departing cargo ship fulfills the task of cost reduction and efficiency improvement.

Moreover, the combined port has made it easier for Jiangmen's exports to radiate to more places. "Originally just Southeast Asia, now we are expanding towards South America and Europe," says Lin Dong.

In fact, the implementation of the combined port is the result of continuous efforts by various departments in Jiangmen. According to the recollections of government officials, there were initial doubts internally about the opening of the combined port, especially regarding whether the coordination among various departments and the approval of the plan could be smooth.

In a breakthrough moment, everyone realized that the "Pearl River waterway" must be better utilized. The existence of the "Jiangmen Pass" for over a century gave this city the courage to challenge itself.

Rediscovering past glory

As an old inland shipping hub, the prosperity of import and export docks in Jiangmen has directly led to the growth and linkage of several sectors in Jiangmen. Firstly, the export of products and the growth of enterprises have increased. Secondly, it has driven the efficiency of the upstream and downstream industrial chains, breaking through port space barriers, achieving logistics coordination between intercity ports seamlessly, and realizing the merging of functions, waterway transportation, data coordination, and port cooperation into "two ports in one," something that was unimaginable in the past.

Li Ying, a native of Jiangmen, is well aware of the local ups and downs. He knows that for a city, being seen and recognized can bring better development. Li Ying witnessed the popularity brought to Jiangmen by the TV series "Skate into Love," which attracted crowds of people to the streets. However, to retain businesses and attract people, Jiangmen still needs to do more.

"'Skate into Love' is in culture and tourism, while the port is in the entire economic structure," says Li Ying. Jiangmen's port has given hope to many, and many things keep coming in, "even investment promotion has improved."

At the recent Guangdong High-quality Development Conference, "marine economy" and "bridge economy" were repeatedly mentioned. Jiangmen has stated it will seize the opportunity and implement the Greater Bay Area plan to grasp the significant opportunities of the "bridge economy." This undoubtedly injects new vitality into Jiangmen's development.

The Jiangmen Customs will have a busy schedule ahead. The Phase II project of Gaoxin Port is gradually progressing. Moreover, the venue operators are preparing to establish an export supervision warehouse within the port and applying to build customs-designated supervision places for imported meat, fruits, and fresh aquatic products. Alongside companies, they are working hard to prove that Jiangmen can excel in exports and imports.

It is undeniable that Jiangmen, born from the "water," is demonstrating the city's strong vitality and bringing this city back into the public eye. At the same time, it also showcases a possibility - an old prosperous city and its residents are striving for a leap forward.