首提向海经济，北部湾经济区打造蓝色引擎

□ 文/本刊首席记者 陈丽冰

首提向海经济，北部湾经济区打造蓝色引擎

□ 文/本刊首席记者 陈丽冰

“要建设好北部湾港口，打造好向海经济。我们常说要想富先修路，在沿海地区要想富也要先建港。”2017年4月19日，中国国家主席习近平在广西北海考察时如是表示。

梦好起宏图，行稳步更远。习近平主席的这一指示不仅突出了广西北部湾港的向海优势，同时更为广西北部湾经济区，以及广西全区写好海丝这篇大文章明确了方向。

广西北部湾港背靠大西南、面向东南亚、东临粤港澳，是广西北部湾经济区乃至中国对接东盟国家最便捷的海上门户，地理和区位条件十分优越。在此背景下，随着“一带一路”建设的渐入佳境，北部湾经济区也以北部湾港为依托，建立起现代化的港口群、临港产业经济带、国际产能合作示范区等多位一体的发展格局，向海经济发展之路越走越宽广。

面朝大海，打造蓝色引擎

为何要发展向海经济？中国社会科学院研究员、中国区域经济学会秘书长陈耀在接受21世纪经济报道的采访时表示，向海经济意味着沿海区域要面向海洋发展，重视海洋资源的利用，要向海洋要资源、要财富。要依托港口群构建“大进大出”的临港产业集群，比如发展大型海洋装备、深海生物技术转化、海洋资源开发利用等海洋经济，都是探索向海经济的有效形式。

以海洋资源利用、保护为例，向海经济既强调要开发好海洋资源，同时更要着力推动海洋开发方式向循环利用型转变，建设蓝色生态屏障，优化升级海洋产业结构体系，全面促进海洋经济可持续发展。“发展临港工业需要特别注重生态的保护，开发与保护并举。因而，有必要探索更科学、更生态化的发展模式。”陈耀说。

广西钦州保税港区码头

而北部湾经济区作为广西对外开放的重要窗口，拥有近13万平方公里的海域面积，蕴藏着丰富的海洋资源，在“一带一路”建设蓝图中，对于广西打造向海经济有着区位、政策、历史等多方面的优势。

因此，随着“一带一路”建设的风生水起，北部湾经济区重点依托港口和产业这两大“轮子”，打造一条有广西特色的向海经济发展之路，不仅是北部湾经济区实现新一轮开放开发的新要求，同时也是顺应“一带一路”发展的必然趋势，意义非凡。

港口内外兼修，畅通向海之路

“向海经济”虽然是个新词汇，但从近年来北部湾经济区的发展路径来看，不难发现其轨迹。其中，通过广西北部湾港的内联外通，促进经济区与东盟国家的海上互联互通便是其中一环。

广西北部湾港由钦州港、防城港、北海港三大天然良港组成，具有大型、深水、专业化码头群形成的规模优势，资源丰富、区位独特。在此基础上，近年来，广西北部湾港先后建成防城港20万吨级码头及进港航道、钦州港30万吨级油码头、北海铁山港1-4号泊位等一批标志性工程，以及根据《北部湾城市群发展规划》积极打造中国—东盟港口城市合作网络，使港口基础设施和吞吐能力都迈上了新台阶。截至目前，广西北部湾港已经建成生产性泊位260个，万吨级以上泊位83个。2016年，在航运业持续低迷、全国规模以上港口增速趋缓的情况下，广西北部湾国际港务集团经营管理的三港区累计完成吞吐量1.396亿吨，同比增长9.02%。

而在加强“硬件”基础设施建设的同时，广西北部湾港也借助“一带一路”建设的东风，积极拓展国际合作，加强与“一带一路”沿线地区，特别是东盟国家的互联互通。2017年2月，广西北部湾国际港务集团继2014年入股马来西亚关丹港之后，又投资建设文莱摩拉港，加快“走出去”的步伐，实现了东盟港口与北部湾港的互联互通；不仅如此，当前广西北部湾港还积极推动并参与“渝桂新”南向通道建设，使其形成一条连接东南亚、经广西至重庆到欧洲的亚欧海陆相连新通道，拓展向海经济之路。

截至目前，广西北部湾港与东盟国家的47个港口建立海上运输往来，并开通内外贸航线44条，与世界100多个国家和地区、200多个港口通航，基本实现了东南亚、东北亚地区主要港口的全覆盖。如今，在广阔的北部湾海面上，满载集装箱的巨轮南来北往地穿梭在广西北部湾港与东盟各国港口间，北部湾经济区向海经济的支撑力也越来越强。

产业优化升级，积蓄向海动能

“作为中国西南地区最便捷的出海口，广西北部湾经济区已经从10年前基本没有重大项目落户的‘产业荒漠’成长为该地区重要的产业基地，逐步形成以石化、电子信息、冶金新材料、粮油食品、造纸、海洋等为主导的特色现代产业体系。”广西北部湾经济区和东盟开放合作办公室常务副主任魏然说，“向海经济”正在中国西部沿海逐渐发展壮大。

这一变化，源于北部湾经济区发展临港产业、推动海洋经济向质量效益型转变的现实需要，也源于“一带一路”建设给北部湾经济区带来的发展新机遇。

“临港布局产业的好处在于，通过缩短运输路线和形成规模上的‘大进大出’，最大限度地降低成本，而广西的区位优势又利于货物快速疏散。”广东外语外贸大学教授陈万灵在接受21世纪经济报道的采访时表示。得天独厚的区位优势使得中国的临港工业产品、海洋装备制造，可以通过北部湾经济区更便捷地走向“一带一路”国家。

因而，随着“一带一路”建设的实施，通过加快发展临港工业、海洋装备制造业、远洋捕捞业等现代海洋产业推动中国与东盟等“一带一路”沿线国家的合作，也就成为广西打造区域蓝色引擎的重要路径，以及北部湾经济区打造向海经济的极佳选择。

而在这方面，目前北部湾经济区已有所探索。其中，北海近年来陆续引进了斯道拉恩索北海林纸一体化项目、中石化炼化项目等大项目，建立起了电子信息、石油化工、临港新材料三大千亿元产业。钦州成功引进了中石油、金桂林浆纸一体化、国投钦州发电、中船大型修造船基地等大型临港产业项目，形成了石化、装备制造和能源等百亿元产业的大工业框架。防城港则有中广核的核电项目和引进武钢千亿吨规模的钢铁项目等。

不仅如此，为了进一步提升北部湾经济区打造向海经济的力度与厚度，据广西北部湾经济区和东盟开放合作办公室产业处负责人介绍，北部湾经济区还将按照经济区6市各自的区位优势和现有基础，打造八大产业集群，即电子信息和冶金精深加工等2个3000亿元产业，石化、粮油和食品加工等2个两千亿元产业，装备制造、能源、生物医药和健康、轻工等4个千亿元产业集群。通过这些规划，及产融对接的资金杠杆撬动，将促进6市产业差异化发展，进而带动区域产业整体提高，将北部湾经济区打造成国际产能合作枢纽港，为向海经济加足马力。

2015年3月，中国赋予广西“构建面向东盟的国际大通道，打造西南中南地区开放发展新的战略支点，形成‘一带一路’有机衔接的重要门户”的三大定位；2017年4月，习近平主席视察广西时又强调要发展“向海经济”，释放“海”的潜力。因而，在诸多有利条件下，我们更有理由相信，北部湾经济区打造向海经济的路径将更清晰、宽广。

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“We s h o u l d d e v o t e o u r s e l v e s t o constructing ports in Beibu Gulf and to developing maritime economy. We often say that you’d better build roads first to become rich, but in the coastal areas you have to build ports first,” said Chinese President Xi Jinping on a facts- fi nding visit to Beihai,Guangxi, China on April 19, 2017. His statement not only gives prominence to the advantages of Beibu Gulf Economic Zone (BGEZ) in marine resources but also indicates the development orientation for the zone and for Guangxi in pursuit of the 21stCentury Maritime Silk Road Initiative.

In terms of geographical and regional advantages, ports in BGEZ are backed by southwest China, oriented towards Southeast Asia and adjacent to Guangdong, Hong Kong and Macao in the east of China, constituting the most convenient seaborne gateway to ASEAN in the zone and in China. As the Belt and Road construction advances, a layout integrating modern port group,port-centered industry economic belt and international industrial-capacity cooperation demonstration area has taken shape, thus better promoting the development of local maritime economy.

Blue driving force

In an interview with the21st Century Business Herald, Mr. Chen Yao,researcher of Chinese Academy of Social Sciences and Secretary-General of CARE, holds that people in BGEZ should seek their fortune by utilizing local marine resources. He also suggests that it is advisable for authorities concerned to set up a port-centered industrial layout aimed at manufacturing large-scale marine equipment,transforming deep-sea biotechnologies,exploiting and utilizing marine resources and so on.

Take marine-resources utilization and conservation for example. In order to comprehensively facilitate the sustainable development of maritime economy, equal emphasis should be placed on the exploitation of marine resources, on the change from marine exploitation to circular utilization of resources involved, on the construction of a blue ecological shelter zone, and on the upgrading and transformation of marine industry structure. “We should give particular attention to ecological reservation and to the balance of exploitation and protection when developing port-centered industry.Therefore, it is crucial to explore a more scienti fi c, ecology-oriented development pattern,” said Mr. Chen.

With a total sea area of nearly 130,000 square meters and the abundance of marine resources, BGEZ, as a signi fi cant window for Guangxi’s opening-up to the outside world, has multiple advantages like geographical location in the development of maritime economy under the Belt and Road Initiative.

As the Belt and Road construction forges ahead, based on ports and industries in BGEZ, pursuing maritime economy with Guangxi’s characteristics not only satis fi es the demands of a new round of opening-up and development but also accords with the inevitable tendency of the Belt and Road Initiative.

Internal and external development of ports

While maritime economy was introduced lately, it has been seen as one of development directions of BGEZ in recent years. To increase maritime connectivity with ASEAN countries, for instance, BGEZ focuses on strengthening the links among ports in the zone and on the relationship with their foreign counterparts.

Guangxi Beibu Gulf Port (GBGP) which consists of three good natural harbors— Qinzhou Port, Fangchenggang Port and Beihai Port possesses large-scale,deep-water and specialized docks,so it is superior in scale, abundant in marine resources and unique in regional location. Over the years, a series of landmark projects have been completed successively in GBGP: Fangchenggang Port built 200,000-DWT docks, Qinzhou Port 300,000-DWT docks, and Beihai Tieshangang Port No. 1-4 berths. In addition, China-ASEAN Port Cities Cooperation Network is being created according toBeibu Gulf Cities Layout Development Planning. All this has made the local ports’ infrastructure and handling capacity elevated to a higher level. As of now, GBGP has constructed 260 productive berths and 83 berths above 10,000 DWTs. In 2016, when faced with the continuous sluggish of shipping industry and the slower growth of nation-wide ports with the handling capacity above 10,000,000-15,000,000 DWTs, GBGP’s handling capacity registered a steady growth rate, and it amounted to 139.6 million DWTs —representing a year-on-year increase of 9.02%.In the meantime, in pursuing the Belt and Road Initiative, GBGP is energetically expanding cooperation with its foreign counterparts and enhancing connectivity with countries along the Belt and Road routes, particularly ASEAN countries. For example, after becoming a shareholder of Malaysia’s Kuantan Port, Beibu Gulf Port Group invested in the construction of Brunei’s Mora Port in February 2017, achieving the connectivity with ASEAN’s ports.Moreover, GBGP is currently taking the initiative in building the Chongqing-Guangxi-Singapore Southward Passageway, which is aimed at creating more convenient conditions for maritime economy.

Now GBGP has forged marinetransportation ties with 47 ports in ASEAN countries and opened 44 sea routes of domestic and foreign trade. Its shipping services are accessible to over 200 ports in more than 100 countries and regions across the world, covering almost all the main ports in Southeast Asia as well as Northeast Asia.

Industrial upgrading and optimization“As the most convenient access to the sea in southwest China, GBGP has evolved into a key industrial base in the region from an ‘industry desert’which was basically lack of largescale projects ten years ago. Now it is gradually setting up a modern industrial system featuring the predominant industries such as petrochemicals,electric information, new materials of metallurgy, grain & cooking-oil food,papermaking and marine industry,” said Wei Ran, executive vice-director of Guangxi Beibu Gulf Economic Zone& Cooperation with ASEAN Office of Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region.Currently, maritime economy is growing stronger in the coastal areas of western China, which is the fact that BGEZ has been committed to developing portcentered industries and to making maritime economy quality- and bene fi toriented, and the fact that the Belt and Road construction has brought about new development opportunities to the zone.

“The benefits brought by the portcentered industry layout are to maximally reduce costs by shortening transportation routes and forming largevolume import and export, and Guangxi’s regional advantages are conducive to the rapid distribution of cargoes,” said Mr.Chen Wanling, professor of Guangdong University of Foreign Studies, in an interview with the21st Century Business Herald. By virtue of BGEZ’s exceptional regional advantages, China-made portcentered industrial products and marine equipment can be more promptly accessible to countries along the Belt and Road routes.

Given this, as the Belt and Road construction progresses, giving more priority to modern marine industry —including port-centered industry, marine equipment manufacturing industry and ocean fi shing industry — can consolidate the cooperation between China and countries like ASEAN states along the Belt and Road routes — not only an important channel for Guangxi to create a blue driving force in the region but also an optimal choice for BGEZ to foster maritime economy.

At present, BGEZ has conducted an exploitation of maritime economy:Beihai introduced some large-scale projects, including Stora Enso Beihai Mill (a forest-paper integration project)and Sinopec re fi ning project, with three 100-billion-yuan industrial projects(namely, electric information industry,petrochemical industry and port-centered new materials industry) completed;Qinzhou four large-scale port-centered industrial projects (namely, Sinopec,Jinguilin Pulp-paper Integrated Project,SDIC Qinzhou Electric Power Co.,Ltd., as well as CSIC Large-scale Ship Repairing and Building Base), forming a 10-billion-yuan industry framework involving petrochemicals, equipment manufacturing and energy resources;and Fangchenggang CGN’s nuclear power project and Wuhan Iron and Steel Group’s 100-billion-yuan steel project.

Furthermore, to further reinforce BGEZ’s competitive strength in maritime economy, eight aspects of industrial layout have been figured out based on different regional advantages and existing conditions of six cities in the zone: two 300-billion-yuan industrial projects (electric information and metallurgy intensive-processing),two 200-billion-yuan industrial projects(petrochemical re fi ning, and grain & oil food processing), and four 100-billionyuan industrial projects (equipment manufacturing, energy resources, biopharmaceutical and health, as well as light industry).

Beibu Gulf Economic Zone to Create Its Blue Driving Force Through Maritime Economy

Written by Chen Libing / Translated by Xu Zhiliang