Keywords

1 Introduction

The Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area is located in the southern coastal region of China, including nine cities in Guangzhou, Shenzhen, Zhuhai, Foshan, Huizhou, Dongguan, Zhongshan, Jiangmen and Zhaoqing (the “PRD Region”) and two special administrative regions in Hong Kong and Macau, with a total area of 56,000 square kilometers (Fig. 1). It plays an important role in the construction of the “Maritime Silk Road” (Wang et al. 2022). In 2021, the total population will reach 86.56 million; GPD will be 12.6 trillion yuan; foreign trade import and export volume will be 16.6 trillion yuan, accounting for 6.1%, 10.8% and 34.7% of the country respectively.

The region is connected by rivers and seas, with important ports connecting internationally and high-grade waterways radiating inland areas, and has been a more developed area for water transportation in China in recent years. In 2021, the ports in the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area completed throughput of 1.61 billion tons and 78.55 million TEU of container throughput, with three ports ranking among the top ten in the world in terms of container throughput, forming a river-sea intermodal transport system featuring by containers and coal, which is an important port cluster region in the world. The ports play an important role in linking international markets, transferring energy and raw materials, and driving economic and trade development in the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Bay Area and the Xijiang River Basin hinterland.

For the development of Bay Area-type ports, China’s experience is: making the plan first and playing the role of government macro-control, opening up the market and relying on the market to allocate factor resources, keeping pace with the times and highlighting different development priorities at different times, and promoting together by the central government and local authorities, and utilizing the enthusiasm of both the central and local.

Fig. 1.
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Distribution of ports and inland waterways in the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area.

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2 Evolution and Development of Ports in Guangdong, Hong Kong and Macao Bay Area

2.1 Evolutionary History

2.1.1 1978–1990

In 1978, China implemented reform and opening up, and established four special economic zones, including Shenzhen, Zhuhai and Shantou in 1980, and 14 coastal open cities, including Guangzhou and Zhanjiang, in 1984. During this period, Hong Kong’s advantages in capital, technology, management and shipping were combined with Guangdong’s advantages in policy, geography, land and labor, forming the economic cooperation model of “front store and back factory” between Guangdong and Hong Kong. Hong Kong’s processing manufacturing industry began to transfer to the Pearl River Delta region, especially in Shenzhen and Dongguan on the east coast of the Pearl River Estuary, where the “three to come and one to make up” industry (processing with materials, processing with samples, assembly with parts and compensation trade) took the lead in development. From 1978 to 1990, the average annual speed of economic development in Guangdong Province was as high as 12.7%, and the GDP and foreign trade import and export volume accounted for 8.3% and 36.3% of the country respectively, ranking first in the country.

Guangzhou port is the oldest port in South China. In order to meet the energy demand brought by economic development, coal terminals such as Guangzhou West Base and Dongguan Shajiao Power Plant were built during this period, and bulk cargo represented by coal and crude oil was the main cargo category of the PRD port. Along with the transfer of manufacturing industry, the container production place was transferred from Hong Kong to the PRD region, and the containers produced in the mainland were mainly transported to Hong Kong by road.

However, compared with waterway transport, the transportation by road takes longer time and longer distance. The goods by waterway can be transported to Hong Kong in only more than ten hours, thus forming the front of the construction of the terminal, the rear of the construction of the “processing zone” mode and can enjoy the preferential policies for Hong Kong by using the length of 50 m or less “Hong Kong and Macao line” container ship. Pearl River Delta ports almost do not have routes for container foreign trade, and more than 90% of the containers transit through Hong Kong. Hong Kong is the only container trunk port for Pearl River Delta region to connect with the world. In 1970, Hong Kong’s container throughput was still outside the world’s 30th place, but with the abundant cargo supply in the Pearl River Delta region, it jumped to the world’s 4th place in 1975. Hong Kong then overtook Kobe and New York, and in 1987 overtook Rotterdam as the world’s No. 1 in terms of container throughput, rapidly developing into an international shipping center (Wang 2007; Wang 1997). See Fig. 2 for details.

Fig. 2.
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Hong Kong container throughput 1975–1990.

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2.1.2 1991–2000

After Deng Xiaoping’s Southern Tour speech in 1992, the Pearl River Delta region further accelerated the transfer of industries, and the economy and foreign trade showed a new round of rapid development. The lack of energy transportation and container transportation capacity was the prominent problem at that time. Therefore, the demand for water transportation grew faster, and port construction was accelerated continuously. In order to rationalize the use of port shoreline resources and improve investment efficiency, the central government and Guangdong Province jointly formulated the “Guangdong Coastal and Pearl River Delta Port Layout Plan”, which was the first regional port layout plan in China and determined the basic shape of port development in the Pearl River Delta region.

In terms of container transportation, the plan selects Shenzhen Port as the future container trunk port in the Pearl River Delta region, Guangzhou Port, Zhuhai Port as feeder ports, and other small and medium-sized ports as feeding ports. In terms of coal transportation, Guangzhou Port and Zhuhai Port are selected as transition ports, and it is confirmed that the power plants in the Pearl River Estuary are transported by bulk carriers with a 35,000-ton class, and coastal power plants are transported by 50,000-ton or l00,000-ton bulk carriers. During this period, the planning of a high-grade waterway network in the Pearl River Delta was taken seriously and the government began to formulate the “General Layout Plan for Inland Waterways in Guangdong Province”, which proposed a planning pattern of “three horizontal and three vertical” for the region’s inland waterway network.

Severely constrained by land, roads, environment, costs, etc., Hong Kong’s major terminal operators have begun to turn to the mainland for new development. With its close proximity to Hong Kong and its natural harbor advantages, Shenzhen has become the preferred investment destination for terminal operators such as Hutchison Whampoa. In 1994, Shenzhen Yantian International Container Terminal (Phase I) was put into operation, and the container transport of Shenzhen port began to develop rapidly. In 2000, Shenzhen port completed container throughput of 3.99 million TEU, becoming the second largest container port in mainland China. The pattern that foreign trade containers in the Pearl River Delta region could only go to Hong Kong for transit began to change, but Hong Kong is still the most important container trunk port in the region.

During this period, Guangzhou port was still the distribution center for energy, raw materials and other materials in the region, and began to expand from Huangpu to Xinsha, with the construction of Xinsha coal receiving and unloading terminal and inland river transshipment terminal in 1995. Other cities in the PRD became more aware of the importance of water transport and set up factories along the water, and built a large number of inland container terminals feeding Hong Kong, and river-sea intermodal transport developed rapidly. The government attaches great importance to the construction of the high-grade waterway network in the PRD and has improved the waterway from Zhaoqing to Humen and Hengmen in the lower reaches of Xijiang River according to the standard of navigable 3000t class sea vessels, and the inland waterway in the PRD region has been developed rapidly.

2.1.3 Since 2000

Entering the new century, the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area has developed into a world-class city cluster and manufacturing base. The 2006 National Coastal Port Layout Plan and the 2007 National Inland Waterway and Port Layout Plan further refined the layout of ports and high-grade waterway networks in the PRD region.

The general plan of Shenzhen Port, Guangzhou Port, Zhuhai Port and Dongguan Port refines the distribution of labor and resource utilization for each port. A number of large deep-water berths such as Yantian (Phase III Project) and Da Chan Bay in Shenzhen, Nansha in Guangzhou, Gaolan in Zhuhai and Tsuen Wan in Huizhou were put into operation one after another, and the 3,000-tonne inland waterway extended to Zhaoqing. During this period, the ports in the PRD began to develop the container river and sea intermodal transport mode, and the scope of the port hinterland was further subdivided, gradually narrowing the gap between the ports of Hong Kong, Shenzhen and Guangzhou in the container transport field (Wang 2013; Chen and Wang 2015; Wu et al. 2013).

Selecting the ports of Hong Kong, Shenzhen and Guangzhou as the core team, and the ports of Zhuhai, Dongguan, Huizhou, Foshan and Zhongshan as the supportive members, a world-class port cluster in the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area has begun to take shape. Additionally, the “three longitudinal and three horizontal” high-grade waterway network has been completed, strongly supporting the development of the Greater Bay Area.

Hong Kong Port: In 2013, the container throughput of Hong Kong Port was surpassed by Shenzhen Port, but with the advantage of the convenient “free port” customs clearance system, well-developed shipping services, financial services and trade functions, Hong Kong Port is still the most preferred port for high value containers and plays an irreplaceable role.

Shenzhen port: Shenzhen port continues to promote the construction of container terminals, and the integration of the western container terminals. It has formulated the joint development pattern of two wings composed of the eastern Yantian, the western Nanshan and Dachan Bay; The eastern Yantian port area is mainly dominated by North American and European ocean routes; the western port area is dominated by near-ocean routes, which has the natural advantage of developing river-sea intermodal transport. After more than 20 years of high-speed expansion, Shenzhen port encounters the same problems with Hong Kong which are the land, resources, population and environmental constraints. After the global financial crisis in, 2008, it began to focus on container transport featuring coal, grain and other bulk cargo to the surrounding ports out.

Guangzhou Port: Guangzhou Port continues to play an important role in the intermodal transportation of coal and grain by river and sea, and started to plan to build the Nansha Port Area. 2004 saw the completion of the first phase of the Nansha Port Area, and through joint ventures with multinational companies such as COSCO, as well as local enterprises such as Foshan and Zhongshan, the first to fourth phases of the Nansha Container Terminal and the supporting inland river vessel transfer area were built one after another, while the water depth of the sea channel was continuously dredged to 17 m. The construction of Nansha port area has changed the situation of lacking large terminals in Guangzhou port and it also shortens the distance to the international routes. Starting from developing domestic trade containers and foreign trade routes to Southeast Asia and Africa, Guangzhou port gradually has become a new container trunk port in the region. See Fig. 3 for details.

Fig. 3.
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Changes in container throughput of the ports of Hong Kong, Shenzhen and Guangzhou 2000–2021.

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Zhuhai Port: Zhuhai Port focused on developing Gaolan port area and constructing harbor-dredging railroad. Therefore, it has become a bulk cargo transshipment hub for coal, iron ore, oil and gas on the west bank of the Pearl River Estuary.

Dongguan Port: Starting with Shajiao Power Plant coal terminal and as a feeder line to Hong Kong, Dongguan Port has gradually taken over the increased bulk cargo in the region and the bulk cargo transferred from Shenzhen Port. It plays an important role in coal, grain and domestic trade container transportation.

Huizhou Port: Relying on the 300,000-ton crude oil terminal at Mabianzhou, Huizhou Port has driven the development of Daya Bay world-class refining and chemical base.

The process of port development in the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area is shown in Fig. 4.

Fig. 4.
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Schematic diagram of the evolution of the port pattern in the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area.

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2.2 Current Situation

2.2.1 Guangdong, Hong Kong, Macao and the Greater Bay Area is One of the Busiest Regions in the World in Terms of Container Transportation

In 2021, the ports in Guangdong, Hong Kong and Macao Greater Bay Area finished a total of 78.55 million TEU of container throughput, accounting for 26.1% of China’s container throughput; more than 400 foreign trade container routes were opened, ranking 1st in China in terms of route density; the international container transshipment volume exceeded 10 million TEU, ranking first in the world’s four major bay areas; the container throughput of Shenzhen Port, Guangzhou Port and Hong Kong Port ranked 4th, 5th and 10th respectively in the global container port ranking respectively.

2.2.2 A World-Class Port Cluster with Hong Kong Port, Shenzhen Port and Guangzhou Port as Hubs Has Been Formed

Hong Kong Port: It maintained the scale of container transportation at 20 million TEU/year, and 17.8 million TEU in 2021. It not only focused on import routes and the development of international trade, finance, shipping services and other service industries, but also took into account the transportation of some high-value export goods.

Shenzhen Port: Focusing on container transportation, about 60% of foreign trade containers in the Pearl River Delta region are transported through Shenzhen Port. In addition, an LNG energy receiving and unloading base has been built in Dapeng Bay.

Guangzhou Port: It has various transportation functions such as containers, coal, grain, refined oil products and commercial vehicles. The container ocean shipping line has been initially developed; the scale of domestic trade container and near-ocean shipping line has been expanded; and the river and sea intermodal transport network has been improved.

Zhuhai Port and Dongguan Port: It plays an important role in container feeder transportation and domestic trade transportation.

Huizhou Port: Relying on Daya Bay Refining and Chemical Base, it has developed oil transportation and port-side industries.

Foshan Port, Zhongshan Port, Jiangmen Port, Zhaoqing Port and other ports: It mainly serves processing and manufacturing enterprises in the cities where they are located, and is an important feeding port for container trunk ports.

2.2.3 A Convenient and Efficient River-Sea Intermodal Transport System Has Been Formed

For containers. Guangzhou Nansha, Shenzhen Nanshan and Hong Kong Kai Hong Kong complete the loading and unloading of river vessels at the Tuen Mun River Trade Terminal. Enterprises such as China Merchants Group, Hutchison Whampoa, Guangzhou Port Group and Guangdong Shipping Group attach much importance to container river-sea intermodal transport business, and invest in river terminals in the Pearl River Delta region through acquisition, equity participation and new construction in various ways, cultivating the formation of a comprehensive container river-sea intermodal transport network.

As for coal, Guangzhou Nansha and Xinsha, Dongguan MaChong and Zhuhai Gaolan are the hubs in the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area. Coal from northern Chinese ports and Indonesia and Australia is picked up and unloaded in these port areas and transported to the Pearl River Delta and cities along the West River via inland vessels.

3 Experience Learned

3.1 Establish a Sound Water Transport Planning System and Guide the Development of the Industry Through Planning

The government attaches importance to the macro-control role of public policy and has established a perfect planning system for ports and waterways. Through the national layout plan and provincial layout plan, the development direction of each port and the navigable grade of each waterway can be determined. Through the port master plan and the five-year development plan, the terminal layout and the development priorities within a certain period of time can be determined. See Fig. 5 for details.

Fig. 5.
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Diagram of the port and waterway planning system.

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3.2 Opening Up the Port Construction and Operation and Forming a Market Pattern of Diversified Equity

After Hutchison Whampoa invested in Yantian Container Terminal in Shenzhen, multinational terminal operators and shipping companies such as Modern Terminals and COSCO Shipping have invested in container terminals in Shenzhen and Guangzhou. Joint ventures and cooperation have also been carried out among mainland enterprises, forming a diversified pattern of equity in the port market of Guangdong, Hong Kong and Macao Greater Bay Area. Under the market regulation, a benign competition and cooperation relationship has been established. See Table 1, 2 for details.

Table 1. Shenzhen port container terminal shareholding structure. (Unit: %)
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Table 2. Guangzhou port Nansha container terminal shareholding structure. (Unit: %)
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3.3 Adjusting the Focus of Port and Waterway Development According to the Economic and Trade Development Needs of the Hinterland at Different Times

Since the development stage of the hinterland determines the scale and structure of cargo transported by the port, China has therefore continuously adjusted the focus of port and waterway development in the PRD region. In the 80’s, due to power and energy constraint, the main development of coal terminals was container transportation depended on Hong Kong; in the 90’s, taking advantage of the transfer of Hong Kong’s manufacturing and shipping industries to the mainland, the development of container terminals was accelerated, and the river-sea intermodal transport system for bulk cargoes such as coal began to be improved; since 2000, joint ventures and cooperation between enterprises have become increasingly close, and the government has increased its efforts to improve inland waterways, so the river-sea intermodal transport system for containers and coal has become more complete. The intermodal transport system has become more perfect (Guangdong Provincial Department of Transport 2022).

3.4 The Central Government and Local Governments Have Formed a Joint Effort to Promote the Construction and Development of Port Clusters in the Greater Bay Area

The central and local governments jointly formulate regional port layout plans, waterway development plans, and master plans for major ports, and jointly invest in the construction of waterways, breakwaters and other port infrastructure. The cumulative investment since 2000 is about 20 billion yuan (RMB) for inland waterway construction.The central government has given localities full autonomy in development, and localities attach importance to water transportation and develop port industries.

4 Future Outlook

In 2019, China announced the Outline of the Development Plan of Guangdong, Hong Kong and Macao Greater Bay Area to support the integration of Hong Kong and Macao into the overall development of the country. The outline of the 14th Five-Year Plan for National Economic and Social Development proposes to build a world-class port cluster in the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area. These policies will have a significant impact on the development of ports and the river-sea intermodal transport system in the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area.

4.1 Port Cluster

At present and for a period of time in the future, the ports in the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area will cooperate more closely and their functions will be further subdivided. The port group with Hong Kong as the international shipping center, Shenzhen Port and Guangzhou Port as the container trunk ports, and Dongguan Port, Zhuhai Port, Foshan Port and Zhongshan Port as the feeder ports will be continuously improved. The level of sharing public resources such as the Pearl River Estuary Sea channel and anchorage is expected to be further enhanced.

4.2 High-Grade Waterway

China attaches more and more importance to stimulate the domestic market demand, and will gradually form a “dual cycle” economic pattern, the prospects of the inland areas of the Pearl River basin will be very positive. The government plan to further enhance the navigational level of the main channel of Xijiang River, promote the construction of tributary channels such as Dongjiang River, Beijiang River, Zuojiang River and Duliu River, improve the connectivity between the main channel and tributary channels, and realize the extension of high-grade channels to the north and east of Guangdong Province, Guangxi, Yunnan, Guizhou and other regions.

4.3 River-Sea Intermodal Hub

The coupling between transportation, space and industrial layout will be further enhanced. Important hubs with river and sea intermodal functions, such as Shenzhen Shekou Port Area, Guangzhou Nansha Port Area, Zhuhai Gaolan Port Area, Dongguan Machong Port Area, etc., will guide inland waterways, railroads, highways, and other transportation resources to converge into a network at the port to form a comprehensive transportation system, which will provide important physical support for strengthening cooperation in the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area.

4.4 Potentiality

China has set the goal of achieving carbon peaking by 2030 and carbon neutrality by 2060.In the context of sustainable development, increasing the proportion of water transport carriers and giving full play to its advantages of large capacity, small land area, low energy consumption and light pollution is an effective way to relieve the pressure of land constraints and carbon emissions in the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area.

5 Conclusion

In the 40 years of development of Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area since the reform and opening up, port transportation has played an important role in economic development and urban construction. Through a series of development plans such as the “Guangdong Coastal and Pearl River Delta Port Layout Plan” and “General Layout Plan for Inland Waterways in Guangdong Province” and other development plans set by the government, the ports in Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area have achieved rapid development. A world-class port group with Hong Kong Port, Shenzhen Port and Guangzhou Port as hubs has been formed, and a convenient and efficient river-sea intermodal transport system has been established. It has now become one of the busiest areas for container transportation in the world. Through sorting out and summarizing, establishing a sound water transport planning system, opening up port construction and operation, timely adjusting the development focus of port and waterway, and forming a joint force between the central and local governments are important experiences for the rapid development and construction of Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area. Looking back at the development of Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area in the past 40 years, port transport has played an important role. Currently, the development of ports in the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area is facing historic opportunities as well as challenges at the same time. The formation of an efficient and collaborative port cluster, the development of river-sea intermodal transport, and the realization of low-carbon, sustainable and intelligent development are the important paths as well as key solutions for the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area in the future.