Port of Haikou

Haikou New Port is located in the island province of Hainan, southern China. It is the main distribution centre for cargo entering Hainan Island.

It was formerly known as the Inner Harbour, built on the southern side of the mouth of the Nandu River, about seven kilometres east of Haikou Xiuying Port.

Haikou Port sits on the north of Hainan Island and on the coastline of middle Haikou Gulf (20 ø 05 ' N, 110 ø 15 'E, to the east is the boundary of Qianpu Bay, and to the west is Chengmai Bay.

The tropical port is the main nerve of South China Sea navigation, and enjoys the reputation as "Qiongzhou's Door."

The area has a mixed irregular diurnal tide, which could occur often as 15 to 18 days a month. Low tide is commonly 0.9 metre while mean high tide is just over two metres.

The natural port was first used as a seaport during the Song Dynasty. In 1953, the port was structurally improved with the addition of cement foundations.

In 1973, the Guangdong provincial government invested nearly CNY200 million for an expansion of the site. Improvements included desilting and construction of storage facilities, a yard, and a waiting room area. These improvements increased the capacity of the port to 40 million tons annually.

Since 1949, Haikou has maintained its position as Hainan's main port, handling more than half of the island's total trade.

In China's coastal port development strategy, Haikou is designed to be a main coastal port and part of the nation's international containers hubs by China's Ministry of Communications.

The port has 15 quay berths, among which 2 are 10,000-ton-level, 2 are 5,000-ton-level and 3 are 3,000-ton-level. The coastline inside of the port is 1,934.3 metres long, and the wharf apron is 4 to 10.8 metres deep.

New Port has a 427-meter-long real production harbour. The wharf apron is 3.5 metres deep.

Haikou Port has 180 loading and uploading machines of various types, including 12 portal cranes, with the biggest craneoutput of 40 tons; one barge crane with the biggest crane output of 80 tons. In addition, in the port, there are 31 tyre cranes, more than 50 forklifts, and over ten shovel loaders.