Crates of car parts, truck tires, bags of fish meal and chemical containers are piling up at China's largest freight marshalling yard with no rail wagons to take them anywhere.
Development of the railway in the world's most populous nation has failed to keep pace with the roaring economy and what cargo space is available is going first to what helps fuel that economic growth -- coal.
"Power is running short. Coal is in urgent demand," said Xie Youqiao, deputy director of the National Development and Reform Commission, China's main economic planning body.
"The satisfaction rate [for cargo transport] has dropped to 35 percent from about 60 percent last year."
The sprawling Zhengzhou East station in the central province of Henan, built in 1997, reveals the extent of the problems.
Next to the container terminals in the goods car section, workers rely on tiny, hand-written tags to separate bags of jute, sacks of herbs, metal pipes in straw and bicycles for shipping to the right destinations.
The central government has also put priority on the transport of grains and fertilizers, meaning that a lot of everything else, including steel, gets left behind at stations or ports.
Things have gone from bad to worse in recent weeks after Beijing tightened load controls on road trucks which used to carry two or three times their legal limits.
It has also tried to speed passenger train rail traffic, which has added to the confusion.
"There's just not enough rail capacity," Zhu Yadong, an official at Zhengzhou East station, said.
"We don't want goods being stored here, but some cargoes get stuck ... We are already working around the clock."
grinding to a halt
Some steel mills and aluminum and copper producers have been forced to wind down production as raw materials have not arrived in time. Grain prices have surged in some provinces as shipments have been delayed.
At the Zhengzhou East station, where four major rail lines converge, 2,100 workers are wrestling to move a record volume of cargo.
The station transferred 347,209 containers last year, with domestic distribution growing nearly 10 percent on average a year and international business soaring 35.2 percent.
Industry officials said massive increases in the iron ore trade were also a cause of the bottleneck. The steel industry was also badly hit, with China now the world's No. 1 steel producer, importer and consumer.
"As of March 20, 28.64 million tonnes of imported iron ore was in storage at ports, 7 million tonnes more than early last year," said Ma Zehua, executive vice president of COSCO, China's state-owned logistics company.
"The shortage of railway transport is getting worse," he told a meeting in Beijing.
Customs data showed Chinese iron ore imports reached 68.32 million tonnes during the first four months of this year, up 44.8 percent from the same period last year.
The scale of changes in iron ore trade dwarfs shifts in almost any other single trade, including coal, exports of which China is expected to slash by 15 million to 18 million tonnes this year in a bid to meet soaring domestic demand for power.
VICIOUS CIRCLE
Calling for more investment in internal transport systems, including waterways, COSCO's Ma said iron ore imports were heading for 180 million tonnes this year.
"And 2005 will see an additional increase of around 15 percent as long as the inland delivery system can match it," he said.
Industry officials said China was in a vicious circle, with a power shortage gripping most of the country's 33 provinces.
"Now the government is in the process of ordering new railways and new wagons. That again is adding to the pressure to produce more steel," said Harry Banga, vice chairman of commodities trading firm Noble Group Ltd.
China plans to invest 2 trillion yuan (US$242 billion) by 2020 to beef up the rail system, extending the network to 100,000km from 73,000km and partially separating passenger and freight transport.
NOT BUYING IT: One of the goals of Beijing’s Cross-Strait Media People Summit was to draw mainstream media executives to discuss the ‘one country, two systems’ formula Taiwanese news media insist on press freedom and professionalism, and would never become a tool of China’s “united front” campaign, Premier Chen Chien-jen (陳建仁) said yesterday, responding to media queries about the lack of Taiwanese media executives at the Cross-Strait Media People Summit in Beijing. Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC) Chairman Wang Huning (王滬寧) was reportedly furious that no Taiwanese media representatives attended a scheduled meeting with him on Thursday last week. “Beijing should take Taiwan’s determination to pursue freedom and democracy seriously. We also hope that it will not use vicious means to interfere with Taiwan’s development into a
IMMIGRATION REFORM: The legislative amendments aim to protect the rights of families to reunify, and to attract skilled professionals to stay and work in Taiwan Foreigners who are highly skilled professionals, top-prize winners in professional disciplines, investment immigration applicants or have made special contributions to Taiwan can soon apply for permanent residency on behalf of their spouses and minor or disabled children after the legislature approved amendments to the Immigration Act (入出國及移民法). The amendments, which were proposed by the Ministry of the Interior and approved by the Executive Yuan on Jan. 12, aim to attract foreign talent to Taiwan and encourage them to stay. They would take effect once they are signed by President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文). The amendments involved changing 63 articles, making it the biggest
FIRST STEP: Business groups in Taiwan welcomed the deal, which does not include tariff reductions at this stage, as they called for the elimination of double taxation Taiwan and the US yesterday signed an initial agreement under the US-Taiwan Initiative on 21st-Century Trade. The agreement was signed yesterday morning by Representative to the US Hsiao Bi-khim (蕭美琴) and American Institute in Taiwan (AIT) Managing Director Ingrid Larson in Washington, the Office of Trade Negotiations in Taipei said. The ceremony was witnessed by Minister Without Portfolio John Deng (鄧振中) and Deputy US Trade Representative Sarah Bianchi. Taiwan and the US started talks under the initiative in August last year, after Taipei was left out of the Washington-led Indo-Pacific Economic Framework. “The deal that will be signed tonight is not only very historic,
Beijing yesterday blamed US “provocation” for an incident last week in which a Chinese plane crossed in front of a US surveillance aircraft over the South China Sea. The incident came at a time of frayed ties between Washington and Beijing over issues including Taiwan and the shooting down of an alleged Chinese spy balloon that flew over the US this year. “The United States’ long-term and frequent sending of ships and planes to conduct close surveillance on China seriously harms China’s national sovereignty and security,” Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokesperson Mao Ning (毛寧) said when asked about the latest incident. “This