Container ships berth at a port in Ningbo, East China's Zhejiang province. [Photo/WeChat account: nbfb0574]

Ningbo in East China's Zhejiang province recently unveiled an action plan to build itself into a national model in free trade zone development by leveraging its prowess as a transportation hub.

According to the plan, the city will strive to increase the cargo throughout volume of Ningbo Zhoushan Port to more than 38 million TEUs and to make it one of the top eight global shipping hubs by 2027.

The sales of primary commodities are targeted to surpass 5 trillion yuan ($714.29 billion) by that time.

In addition, the local government has set the goal of increasing the scale of the city's commodity exports, commodity imports, digital trade and service trade, industrial added value, as well as cross-border RMB settlement in five years to over 1 trillion yuan each.

The Ningbo area of the China (Zhejiang) Pilot Free Trade Zone, which was inaugurated on Sept 24, 2020, covers a total area of 46 square kilometers and is composed of three sections: the Daxie area (15.2 square kilometers), the Meishan area (7.8 sq km), as well as the Ningbo Free Trade Zone (17.8 sq km).

The Ningbo area is positioned to become an international shipping and logistics hub, globally influential oil and gas resource distribution center, innovation center for international supply chains, global scientific innovation center for new materials, as well as a demonstration zone for intelligent manufacturing, according to a development guideline released by authorities in May 2021.