China Railway Express (Xiamen) breaks 100K TEU threshold

The world's largest Liquid Natural Gas (LNG) dual-fuel container ship, the Manila Express, left Xiamen port last week with more than 3,300 containers destined for overseas markets. The massive ship, which is owned by Hapag-Lloyd, is nearly 400 meters and 61 meters wide. Built by Daewoo Shipbuilding and Marine Engineering, the vessel can accommodate up to 23,600 standard containers.

The national Ministry of Commerce recently announced its most recent list of projects and enterprises to earn the “national key cultural export” designation. The totals include five Xiamen-based projects and 14 local enterprises in areas such as mobile phone gaming and international book copyrighting.

Local education officials announced that Xiamen will open 28 new public kindergartens this autumn with a total of more than 11,600 student seats. The new kindergartens include five in Huli, seven in Jimei, two in Siming, six in Tongan and eight in Xiangan.

An additional three public welfare kindergartens operated by district-owned enterprises will open in Haicang. Eight public kindergartens in Xiangan will also be expanded.

The Houpu branch of the GuoDa automated drug store is slated to open on August 31. Officials described the automated process as an improvement in terms of efficiency and security.

The pharmacy will be able to dispense more than 400 kinds of class-B over-the-counter drugs through a kiosk-style purchase terminal. Orders can be made via an electronic touch screen. The kiosk will accept payments through apps such as AliPay and WeChat.

Xiamen University representatives last week announced that it has begun to accept Taiwan students based on their subject test scores. The university initially enrolled 15 Taiwan high school graduates based on their test scores in physics and chemistry, admitting an additional 15 students based on their results in history and geography.

Local authorities announced recently the end of the summer moratorium on commercial fishing in area waters, heralding the return of fresh locally-caught seafood to Xiamen markets.

The Xiashang International Seafood Transaction Center is the largest local seafood market and the second-largest in Fujian. Its stalls currently feature golden threadfin bream, ribbon fish, white pomfret, cuttlefish, squid and portunid crab.

Xiamen representatives last week announced that private bookstores in the city can apply for a range of support funds through September 4. The funding includes subsidies in areas such as rent and logistics as well as discounted loans and one-time awards. Rent subsidies are available up to 300,000 yuan.

Merchants can apply via the Xiamen Industrial Support Fund Integrated Management System or the 厦门文旅WeChat account. Companies that pass a preliminary review will be required to submit additional support materials to the district-level Culture and Tourism Bureau.

City officials recently announced the approval of a master plan for the regional transportation network through the year 2036. The plan outlines Xiamen's overall approach, development goals and primary tasks for developing the local transportation network over the next decade.

Highlights include a call to build out the city's non-vehicular transit network, which covers items such as walking trails, jogging tracks and coastal bicycle lanes. The plan incorporates an expansion of the city's health trails, including coastal trails throughout greater Xiamen and riverside trails along the metro area's nine major mainland streams.

Representatives of this year's China International Fair for Investment and Trade announced recently that roughly 500 domestic and international business organizations and enterprises are expected to attend this year's CIFIT, with more than 40 countries and international institutions hosting exhibitions.

Bilateral trade and exchange events on the agenda include the Silk Road Maritime International Cooperation Forum, a world business leaders roundtable and a session entitled Collaborating with State-Owned Enterprises -- Dialogues with the World session.

Other events include the China-U.S. Subnational Economic and Trade Cooperation Symposium, the China-Pakistan (West) Subnational Economic and Trade Cooperation Symposium and the RCEP International Cooperation Forum.

CIFIT established this year its first-ever Global Cooperation Exhibition Zone. The fair will also host the inaugural release of the China Bilateral Investment Report.

The local Development and Reform Commission announced last week the actual investment of 61.4 billion yuan in provincial key projects based in Xiamen through the end of July. The total represents nearly 74.8 percent of the annual investment plan, which included a projected investment of 82 billion yuan this year.

The investment exceeds the scheduled timeline by 16.5 percentage points. Xiamen ranked first in Fujian in terms of investment completion rate. As of July, construction has commenced on 23 major projects with a total investment of 32.6 billion yuan.

There are 82 major preliminary projects planned for the second half of the year, with a total investment of 386.1 billion yuan. The totals include 47 industrial projects, 12 transportation infrastructure projects, five municipal infrastructure projects, 14 social welfare projects and four water conservancy projects.

厦门日报社新媒体中心出品
来源：CommonTalk Weekly
编辑：严琦 值班首编：张薇薇