CONTEMPORARY ISSUES AND CURRENT CHALLENGES: A way ahead

The Chinese economy is experiencing a shift away from resource-, labor-, and land-intensive development models toward a more modest sustainable-development model. Policies are promulgated to regulate the manufacturing, real-estate and financial industries as well as to tackle pollution. The influence of the economic restructuring can be best observed in the dynamics in throughput in China’s container port system. Containerization has enabled China to rise as a major global exporter of manufactured goods. The development of the pilot free-trade zones represents the initiatives that contribute to the second dimension of the “two-way opening up policy”. Port integration is not a new phenomenon. In the early period, governmental regulation, spatial planning guidance, shoreline-resource-complementarities harmonization and port-function optimization were the driving forces behind port integration. Port integration will continue to exhibit strong growth and market-driven modes will likely dominate the process. Port corporations themselves should also enhance internal capability to cope with the challenges expected abroad.