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Zhanjiang
21°10'N 110°24'E

Zhanjiang is in southern China on the east coast of the Leizhou Peninsula, approximately 250 nautical miles southwest of Hong Kong. Two important facilities close to Zhanjiang Shipyard North are Zhanjiang Port Facilities - a commercial port that occasionally handles military cargo - and Zhanjiang Naval Base and Shipyard - headquarters for China's SSF and home port for several of its major surface combatants. Initially constructed in 1960, the naval facilities at Zhanjiang were among the first major construction projects attempted by the Chinese after the defeat of the Nationalists in 1949.

The shipyard, divided into four areas, consists of the central repair area (containing the original shipyard), where expansion activity began in 1972; the northern repair area, where expansion began in 1977; a landfill area, which provided space for future facilities; and an onsite construction support area, which contained a concrete caisson fabrication facility, a marine railway transverser system, and two traveling gantry cranes used for transporting the caissons to the water.(Concrete caissons are used in the construction of quays and other large port and shipyard berthing andrepair facilities.)

Zhanjiang is one of few Chinese ports accessible by large vessels at all stages of tide. It has a vast hinterland, including Yunnan, Guizhou, Sichuan, Guangxi, Hunan and Guangdong. It is the foreign trade outlet for southwestern and middle China. The port is well equipped and with very considerable potential. Zhanjiang is located in a bay on the east side of Leizhou Peninsula, 230nm West of Hong Kong.

The Litong-Zhnajiang railroad links to the national rail system. Highways link the port to Beihei in the west, Guanzhou in the east and regions to the north. A steel making complex is planned for Donghai Island and an oil refinery and crude oil terminal is also planned. Five berths of 10,000t class are to be constructed, one for container and four for general cargo. Other existing berths are to be upgraded. The port handles a good mix of cargo which include crude oil, iron ore, grains, fertilizers, coal, stall, iron, non-metal ores and containers. It has advanced bagging equipment made in west Germany in the 80's, which has an excellent performance and is highly automatic. The port undertakes the bagging of import and export oxide bagging facilities in the port.

Zhanjiang Shipyard North was enlarged significantly during the 1970s. As China's South Sea Fleet (SSF) grew, a need developed for a large facility within the fleet area for the service and repair of a variety of naval vessels. Zhanjiang was selected for this purpose. As a result, an active program of expansion and development at this facility had been underway since 1972.

Expansion began in the central repair area in 1972. By 1974, the launch basin and a launch platform on an end-haul marine railway were complete. By 1975, a transverser and eleven 71-meter-long repairways were complete, replacing four old marine railways. By late 1980, two three-bay fabrication/repair buildings had been built, and a third building similar to these was nearly complete. When this program completed, Zhanjiang Shipyard North had undergone a transformation from a minor ship repair facility to the largest ship repair yard in the SSF.