Expanding ocean resources part of the national strategy

The marine economy zone in Shandong peninsula is a major engine for local economic growth after it became a part of the nation's overall development strategy in January last year.

"Driven by the national strategy, the zone has experienced rapid growth in marine-related industries and developed into a new powerhouse in Shandong," said Jiang Yikang, Party secretary of the province.

"It is set to become an advanced pilot zone for the scientific development of the nation's marine economy, an international leader in the modern marine industry and the center of international marine science and technology in five to 10 years," Jiang added.

Well positioned across the Yellow Sea from South Korea and Japan, Shandong peninsula also has abundant resources to develop a marine-based economy. It has 3,345 kilometers of coastline, one-sixth of the nation's total.

Its marine economic zone is the first regional zone of its kind to get State Council backing. It encompasses a total of 159,500 square kilometers of sea and 64,000 square kilometers of land that includes the cities of Qingdao, Dongying, Yantai, Weifang, Weihai and Rizhao.

Last year the zone reported gross output value of 2.14 trillion yuan ($342.7 billion), an increase of 11.7 percent year-on-year, 0.8 percentage points higher than the provincial average. It contributed nearly half of Shandong's GDP.

It also generated 148 billion yuan in local taxes and fees, a 25 percent increase over 2010 and 43 percent of the province's total.

"The zone now has a competitive, modern marine industry system focused on bio-resources, equipment manufacturing, shipbuilding, aquaculture, fishing, modern logistics and ocean energy," said Song Junji, deputy director of the zone's construction office.

He added that last year's revenue from marine sectors reached 830 billion yuan, up by 16 percent over 2010.

The coastal cities Yantai, Weihai and Qingdao are now major national shipbuilding and marine equipment manufacturing centers. Despite the global economic slowdown, their combined export of completed ships continues at about 4 million deadweight tons annually.

"With a sound business environment and promising prospects, the zone is a hotspot for domestic and foreign investors. Its actual use of foreign investment accounts for 70 percent of the province's total," said Song.

He added that a combined 1 billion yuan was allocated by the provincial government to support a total of 170 high-tech and eco-friendly projects begun in the zone last year.

At a marine economy and trade fair held in Weifang in October alone, the zone secured 158 projects worth more than 174.5 billion yuan. Among them, 20 involve an investment of over 1 billion yuan respectively.

In addition, two fund management companies for the province's marine industry have been established, which are expected to raise nearly 50 billion yuan worth of capital in the next few years.

With such strong capital inflows, 37 modern marine industrial parks have been built including the Qingdao Marine Biology Park, Qingdao "Blue Silicon Valley", the Weifang Binhai New Area, the Yantai High-Tech Marine Industrial Park, the Longkou Marine Equipment Manufacturing Park and the Dongying Petroleum Industry Park.

A large number of leading marine-related enterprises have been cultivated including 10 marine equipment manufacturers, each with an annual production value of more than 10 billion yuan, and 30 companies in emerging marine industries, each with an annual production value of 1 billion yuan.

To provide technological support to those companies, the zone has fostered 18 State-level marine science and technology innovation operations and five national engineering research centers, the most of their kind in ranking the nation.