Tianjin’s Tanggu port is the largest in northern China and acts as a gateway to Beijing. The main port has 11 container berths with annual capacity of 5m TEUs. Tanggu port is 4 km from the Tianjin Economic and Technological Development Area (TEDA), along the Hai River. The approach channel to the main port, which lies at the mouth of the Hai River, is 11 metres deep.

Tanggu is the fourth busiest port in China for freight traffic: it handled 241m tonnes of cargo in 2005, up 16.7% the previous year, according to the MOC. Container throughput amounted to 4.8m TEUs, up from 3.8m in 2004. The port now operates the country’s third-largest bonded processing trade zone. Newly constructed rail facilities link the port with cities throughout China. Tianjin signed an agreement with PSA in May 2005 to invest US$2.4bn over the next five years in the construction of additional 12 berths as part of the phase-three expansion, which will feature 15-metre draught capable of accommodating the biggest container ships. In July 2006, the Tianjin government signed an agreement with COSCO Pacific and A P Moeller’s APM Terminals to build an Rmb4bn (US$500m) container terminal featuring three new container-handling berths.

Freight handling capacity is targeted to increase to 260m tonnes annually by 2010, while container capacity will expand to 10m TEUs. This will involve dredging a deepwater channel, building a ten-km breakwater, construction of storage facilities for 250,000-300,000 tonnes of crude, and creation of a 30-sq-km island. In June 2006, DP World of Dubai signed a letter of intent to develop the Man-made Island phase two container terminal in Bohai. Reclamation work for the US$500m development, which will have an annual handling capacity of 2.2m TEUs, has started and operations are scheduled to commence in 2011. The project is a JV between Tianjin Port Group (TPG) and DP World (through its subsidiary DP World Tianjin Holdings). In May 2006, the port operator successfully completed a controversial IPO in Hong Kong, raising US$139m.