Provides logistics support for nation's nuclear power
China COSCO Shipping Corp, a State-owned flag carrier, aims to promote the new image of "China's nuclear power" among countries and regions along the route of the "One Belt and One Road" (B&R) initiative by providing efficient maritime transport and full logistics service. [Special coverage]
A node component of the Hualong One, China's third-generation nuclear reactor, which was designed and developed by China General Nuclear Power Corp and China National Nuclear Corp, was hoisted successfully onto a COSCO Shipping Specialized Carrier Co vessel at the end of March, bound for Pakistan, according to a document COSCO sent to the Global Times on Sunday.
As a main brand of China's nuclear power, the Hualong One shipment to Pakistan marked the first step of China's nuclear power going global, the document showed.
The project in Pakistan is located nearly 23 kilometers from downtown Karachi, the country's biggest city, which faces increasing pressure to maintain power supplies. The project is the largest of its kind in Pakistan with a designed annual generating capacity of more than 18 billion kilowatt hours, according to the company.
The project is the second nuclear power plant shipment consigned to COSCO Shipping Specialized Carrier Co, which has played the role of a full logistics service provider since August 2015, including goods pick-up from domestic warehouses, maritime transport from domestic ports to Pakistan's port and land transport to the project construction site.
The first nuclear power project consigned to the carrier, the Chashma project, is also based in Pakistan and work has been in progress since July 2011. So far, the carrier has delivered 246 shipments and the transport of the main equipment has been completed smoothly, the document noted.
Besides its important role in China's nuclear power going global, the carrier said in the document that it also aims to support China's economic, trade and cultural ties with Europe through the Piraeus port, the largest port of Greece and the "Southern Door to Europe".
It was reported by Reuters on Saturday that the Chinese carrier bought a majority stake in Piraeus Port Authority last year under a plan to turn Greece into a transshipment hub for rapidly growing trade between Asia and East Europe.
Chinese President Xi Jinping said that China and Greece should focus their efforts on turning the Piraeus port into an important international transshipment hub and key part of the B&R initiative, China's Foreign Ministry cited Xi as saying.
