From left: Kevin De Hainaut, CEO of Cordeel Zetel Temse; Jan Jambon,

minister-president of Flanders; Yang Jing, CFO of Lingang Group; Dirk De fauw,

Bruges mayor and chairman of Port of Zeebrugge lay the foundation stone for

the new Lingang Overseas Zeebrugge Modern Industrial Park at the Belgian port of Zeebrugge. 

An impressive video not long ago featured a massive fleet of Tesla Model 3s extending as far as the eye could see at the Belgian port of Zeebrugge in Bruges.

This week, the cornerstone was laid for the first phase of a logistics park there. It is developed by the Lingang Group, Shanghai's largest industrial park developer. The total investment will be 100 million euros (US$118.4 million) in the development of the 30-hectare park.

The 15-hectare first phase will include construction of office buildings and a 76,000-square-meter warehouse. Lingang has an option to develop the second phase.

"Investment, and more specifically foreign investment, is an important element in the economic structure of nations in general and of Flanders in particular," said Jan Jambon, minister-president of Flanders, the region where the port is located.

"Companies from abroad strengthen the local economic framework by introducing new technologies and new ideas, offering new jobs and creating added value," he said.

China has been the largest Asian investor in Flanders for many years and was its eighth biggest trading partner in 2020. Exports from Flemish companies to China increased 23 percent in 2020 despite the coronavirus pandemic, reaching 7.63 billion euros.

The new Lingang Overseas Zeebrugge Modern Industrial Park will be built by local contractors and will encompass a low-carbon, green energy strategy. It will be solar powered by rooftop panels.

The site is expected to be completed in August, 2022, with Lingang having an option to develop an additional site in a second phase that will include rail connections. 

The 15-hectare first phase will include construction of office buildings

and a 76,000-square-meter warehouse. The park will initially focus on trade

in e-commerce, automotive and food products.

The park will initially focus on trade in e-commerce, automotive and food products.

"The port of Zeebrugge has many similarities with the Yangshan Deep Water Port in Shanghai, where we developed a similar logistics platform 10 years ago," said Hu Jie, chief executive officer of Lingang Overseas Belgium. "Both are real gateways facilitating deepsea volume growth."

Yangshan Deep Water port, the world's busiest, is adjacent to the Lingang Special Area, which is part of Shanghai's free trade zone. The area is also home to hundreds of foreign companies, including Tesla's Gigafactory.

A nearby port is a major entry point for cold-chain food into China – a match with the Belgian port's specialty in cold-chain fishery.

The combined seaport forces of Shanghai and Bruges are expected to further enhance trade between China and Europe, while advancing the Belgian port's ambition to become a European logistics hub.

Tom Hautekiet, chief executive officer at the Port of Zeebrugge, called the new park a project "of unprecedented scale," which will "make an important contribution to the expansion and anchoring of our deepsea services."

He added, "In doing so, we will strengthen and leverage our role as a gateway for international cargo flows. It is a wonderful example of a win-win cooperation between China and Europe."

The new Lingang Overseas Zeebrugge Modern Industrial Park will be built

by local contractors and will encompass a low-carbon, green energy strategy. 

Shanghai Port's container throughput reached 43.5 million twenty-foot equivalent units (TEUs) last year, ranking first in the world for the 11th consecutive year.

The Bruges seaport is transitioning into a new super port, after a merger with the nearby Antwerp port was announced in February.

Antwerp is Europe's second largest port. Last year, the two ports combined handled nearly 14 million TEUs.

The new super port, to be known as Antwerp-Bruges, will become "the world's first port to reconcile the economy, people and climate," according to the February statement.

Lingang told Shanghai Daily that 40 percent of the space in the new park was leased in advance of the cornerstone being laid. That indicates strong hopes for a strong post-pandemic global recovery.

With pandemic control measures relaxing in most European countries, European shares closed out the first half of 2021 up over 13 percent. But concerns over COVID-19 and signs of rising inflation persist.

"We are living in challenging times," Jambon concluded his ceremony speech. "The global climate for trade and cross-border investments is changing, and we are also witnessing some tensions between the European Union and China. Within this context it is important to understand and respect one another, keep the dialogue going and continue working together."

Lingang's tailor-made gift for ceremony participants features an incense burner

in the shape of a hand, with the Chinese character he, or harmony,

imprinted on the finger. It is drawn from the Confucian idea

 that "harmony should be prized."

Source: SHINE