The construction and development pace of the Shanghai Pudong Area is so remarkably quick that it's undergoing significant changes with each passing day. The recently completed first-stage Yangshan Deepwater Port project has added to the magnificence of the city.

The Yangshan Deepwater Port is located close to a chain of islands between the Hangzhou Bay and the mouth of the Yangtze River. A natural and superb deepwater port, it's just 45 nautical miles from international waters and about 27 kilometers away from the Luchao Port in Nanhui District. The Donghai Bridge links the port with Shanghai's network of communication lines and gives it good connections with the economic hinterland of the Yangtze Rive Delta.

It takes less than an hour by bus to go from Pudong to the port. The 32.5-km-long Donghai Bridge, linking the Yangshan Island with Pudong, is one of the focal points during the first-stage construction of the port. A standard two-way, six-lane expressway with emergency parking areas, it is 31.5 meters wide and designed for vehicles to travel at up to 80 km per hour.

The main arch under the bridge has a designed capacity of 5,000 tons, a net height of 40 meters and a net width of 400 meters. The designed shock proof capacity of the pier is 10,000 tons, and the designed lifetime of the bridge is 100 years.

According to plans, the construction of the port is divided into four stages and will be completed by 2020 with total investment expected to exceed 50 million yuan (US$6.32 billion). On completion, an 11-km deepwater coastal line will form on the side of the Xiaoyangshan Island and there will be 33-35 berths for container vessels.

Insiders say the project will result in many employment opportunities. According to Hong Kong's experience, each container vessel berth has the potential to provide over 27,000 jobs.

(China.org.cn by Guo Xiaoyong, October 18, 2006)