NBGD: Ningbo and Singapore, Two Port Cities with Close Ties

NINGBO, China, Aug. 10, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- "Ningbo's goal of transforming into a modern coastal metropolis makes a lot of practical sense," said Liu Thai Ker, aged 84, former master planner of the Urban Redevelopment Authority of Singapore and "Singapore's Father of City Planning". Liu had worked on Ningbo's urban development plans in 1993 and 2018, which helped him form a unique friendship with the city.

Liu believes that since Ningbo is a maritime city, it should make full use of the coastline to develop seaports and to build urban facilities for citizens to enjoy.

Ningbo's ties with Singapore go back a long way. Currently, there is a expat Ningbo community of 20,000 in Singapore. Li Guosheng is a Singaporean with roots in Ningbo who founded the Zhejiang Entrepreneurs Association in 2013. Li explained that the Ningbo community in Singapore has existed for over a century. The first Ningbo people arrived in Singapore in the year 1900. In the 1930s, with the influx of more Ningbo immigrants, the Ningpo Guild Singapore was formed.

Both Ningbo and Singapore have world-class ports. The Port of Singapore is the second-busiest container port in the world, while the Ningbo Zhoushan Port is the third-busiest. The two ports could form partnerships in a variety of port-related sectors.

"There is active cooperation between the Port of Singapore and Chinese ports," said Quah Ley Hoon, CEO of the Maritime and Port Authority of Singapore (MPA). "We have formed a Port Authorities Roundtable, of which the Ningbo Zhoushan Port is one of the members. Together we are collaborating on a few initiatives, including keeping our ports open during the pandemic, digitalization, and decarbonization. The China Maritime Safety Administration and the MPA have done about 10 trials in the exchange of e-certificates. We are quite hopeful that this will make the entire shipping operations and port clearance process much more efficient. These are some of the ways that the Ningbo Zhoushan Port and MPA could collaborate in terms of digitization."