Port of Tianjin

The Port of Tianjin (Tianjin Gang, Chinese: 天津港; pinyin: tiānjīn gǎng), formerly known as the Port of Tanggu, is the largest port in Northern China and the main maritime gateway to Beijing. The name "Tianjin Xingang" (Chinese: 天津新港; pinyin: tiānjīn xīngǎng; literally: "Tianjin New Port"), which strictly speaking refers only to the main seaport area, is sometimes used to refer to the whole port. The port is on the western shore of the Bohai Bay, centred on the estuary of the Haihe River, 170 km southeast of Beijing and 60 km east of Tianjin city. It is the largest man-made port in mainland China, and one of the largest in the world. It covers 121 square kilometers of land surface, with over 31.9 km of quay shoreline and 151 production berths at the end of 2010.

Tianjin Port handled 500 million tonnes of cargo and 13 million TEU of containers in 2013, making it the world's fourth largest port by throughput tonnage and the ninth in container throughput. The port trades with more than 600 ports in 180 countries and territories around the world. It is served by over 115 regular container lines. run by 60 liner companies, including all the top 20 liners. Expansion in the last two decades has been enormous, going from 30 million tonnes of cargo and 490,000 TEU in 1993 to well beyond 400 million tonnes and 10 million TEU in 2012. Capacity is still increasing at a high rate, with 550–600 Mt of throughput capacity expected by 2015.

2015 Tianjin explosions

A series of explosions that killed over one hundred people and injured hundreds of others occurred at a container storage station at the Port of Tianjin on Wednesday, 12 August 2015. The first two explosions occurred within 30 seconds of each other at the facility, which is located in the Binhai New Area of Tianjin, China. The second explosion was far larger and involved the detonation of about 800 tonnes of ammonium nitrate. Fires caused by the initial explosions continued to burn uncontrolled throughout the weekend, repeatedly causing secondary explosions, with eight additional explosions occurring on Saturday, 15 August.

The cause of the explosions was not immediately known at first, but an investigation concluded in February 2016 that an overheated container of dry nitrocellulose was the cause of the initial explosion.

Poor coverage of the event and the emergency response to it received criticism. The Chinese government also censored the internet and social media using the words "Tianjin" and "explosion", and announced it had taken down multiple websites for publishing "false" information.

Tianjin

Tianjin ([tʰjɛ́ntɕín]; Chinese: 天津; Tianjinese: /tʰiɛn˨˩tɕin˨˩/~[tʰjɛ̃̀ɦɪ̀ŋ]; postal: Tientsin) is a metropolis in coastal northeastern China and one of the five national central cities of China, with a total municipal population of 15,200,000. It is governed as one of the four direct-controlled municipalities of the PRC and is thus under direct administration of the central government. Tianjin borders Hebei Province and Beijing Municipality, bounded to the east by the Bohai Gulf portion of the Yellow Sea. Part of the Bohai Economic Rim, it is the largest coastal city in northern China.

In terms of urban population, Tianjin is the fourth largest in China, after Shanghai, Beijing, and Guangzhou. In terms of administrative area population, Tianjin ranks fifth in Mainland China. The walled city of Tianjin was built in 1404. As a treaty port since 1860, Tianjin has been a major seaport and gateway to the nation's capital. During the Boxer Rebellion the city was the seat of the Tianjin Provisional Government. In the period of late Qing dynasty and the Republic of China, Tianjin became one of the largest cities in China. At that time, numerous western-style buildings and mansions were constructed in concessions, many of which are well-preserved today. After the founding of the People's Republic of China, Tianjin suffered a depression due to the policy of the central government and Tangshan earthquake, but recovered from 1990s. Nowadays Tianjin is a dual-core city, with its main urban area (including the old city) located along the Hai River, which connects to the Yellow and Yangtze Rivers via the Grand Canal; and Binhai, a New Area urban core located east of the old city, on the coast of Bohai Sea. As of the end of 2010, around 285 Fortune 500 companies have set up base in Binhai, which is a new growth pole in China and is a hub of advanced industry and financial activity.

Tianjin Grand Bridge

Tianjin Grand Bridge is a railway viaduct bridge that runs between Langfang and Qingxian, part of the Beijing–Shanghai High-Speed Railway. It is one of the longest bridges in the world with a total length of about 113,700m, or 70.6 miles. It was completed in 2010 and opened in 2011. As of 2011 Guinness World Records recorded it as the second longest bridge in the world.

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