Pushed by the robust export-oriented economies of South China and with the natural advantage of deep-water bays, the delta is merely waiting for further collaboration from its different ports, a process that kicked off with the reunification of Hong Kong and Macau with the mainland.
Judging by recent remarks made by officials and shippers, this collaboration may not be long in coming. Hong Kong chief executive, Tung Chee-hwa, Guangzhou mayor, Lin Sen, and leaders in Shenzhen have expressed interest in jointly building up the world's leading transport hub.
Director of China's Ministry of Communications' Water Transport Department, Hu Hanxiang, says the state believes it is important to maintain Hong Kong's status as a shipping centre and to co-ordinate the growth of Hong Kong with Shenzhen. Shenzhen communications authorities recently called for a joint committee to co-ordinate transport between the two cities, claiming it would be mutually beneficial to set up a network for sharing cargo resources, capacity and information, as Shenzhen prepares to observe international Customs rules following China's entry into the World Trade Organisation.
Hong Kong shipping lines are realigning their carrying capacity between the "triangle ports" of the Pearl River. This helped Hong Kong regain its world number one position in container shipping last year - with a hefty 16.20 million TEUs. In addition, Hong Kong companies are reinvesting their proceeds from joint venture wharves in new berths near Shenzhen, guaranteeing future returns in a more favourable financial and Customs environment.
In turn, Shenzhen is boosting its handling capacity by building deep-water berths near Dapeng Bay in the eastern part of the river, and a 10-12 metre deep river-sea Fanshi water course to the west.
Data from local social science institutions confirmed the water course had hardly changed over the last 100 years.
Guangdong Province accounts for around a third of the mainland's foreign trade, all of which is carried through Guangzhou, Hong Kong and Shenzhen ports. Hong Kong and Shenzhen are responsible for most of the container traffic. Nearly 90 per cent of the cargo is moved on to other ports in the world, with Hong Kong taking the majority of trans-shipment.
Guangdong-Hong Kong co-operation pioneered China's opening to the outside world in 1978. At this time, central authorities gave the green light to Hong Kong's Merchants Bureau building an industrial zone at Shekou, Shenzhen, which resulted in Shenzhen's first 5,000-tonne sea berth two years later. Hong Kong capital flooded in when the Shenzhen Special Economic Zone was established in 1989.
In the next 10 years, more than US$1.8 billion was invested in nine specified port areas, mainly at Yantian, Shekou, Mawan and East Jiaotou. More than half of that investment came from Hong Kong. As aresult, Shenzhen became the country's second largest container port, with more than 40 scheduled international liner routes.
Meanwhile, Guangzhou has flourished - despite facing tough competition from Shenzhen in container shipping and air freight. Last year Guangzhou became the second mainland seaport after Shanghai to register an annual cargo volume of more than 100 million tonnes. Shenzhen came a distant eighth.
PARTNERS MORE THAN RIVALS
Mutual need has interwoven the economies in the delta, according to Du Baoming, director of the Shenzhen Maritime Shipping Association.
Apart from carrying local goods produced by companies owned jointly by Hong Kong and Guangdong businessmen, Shenzhen has barged around 650,000 TEUs a year to Hong Kong over the past two years.
However, trade has also started flowing in the opposite direction, as Hong Kong focuses on developing a global shipping centre that will lead to the dispersal of cargo via its neighbour.
Such co-operation has boosted Shenzhen's cargo volume, which now handles large quantities of imported grain, chemical fertiliser, logs and steel, all of which used to be handled by Hong Kong.
As the mainland's largest city for foreign trade, Shenzhen currently moves 900 tonnes of cargo daily overseas via Hong Kong. Some 300 tonnes goes by air, with the rest of it being transported by sea.
Hong Kong and Shenzhen could benefit from further collaboration. According to experts from the Guangdong provincial academy of sciences and communications institutions, Shenzhen will not challenge Hong Kong as a shipping centre. The reason for this is three-fold. Firstly, major container operations at Shenzhen are run by Hong Kong businesses, which has led to reduced overall costs for those companies. This will consolidate the strength of Hong Kong. Secondly, no ports in the mainland can match the profitable finance, information and Customs services offered by Hong Kong. And thirdly, although the growth of gross container volume may decline in Hong Kong, the port's containerisation structure can always be altered to compensate for this loss.
AIR FREIGHT
Airports at Guangzhou and Shenzhen will see rising cargo volume in the coming years. Construction of the $2.18 billion Guangzhou International Airport finally kicked off in early June, after a number of delays. The reason behind the tarrying was that the air authorities wanted the airport to be updated to a global air central link, without the current limits of Beijing Capital Airport and Pudong Airport in Shanghai.The new airport will be able to accommodate a significant percentage of the region's air cargo by 2010, and its first-phase cargo warehouse will occupy some 80,000 square metres.
However, it is unlikely that Guangzhou will elbow Shenzhen Airport out of the cargo scene. According to central aviation authorities, Shenzhen will play a key role in air cargo transport, supporting Guangzhou's position as a key global air link.
Recent proof of this was the opening of the Shenzhen-Chicago air freight route by China Southern Airlines on April 12. The freighter leaves Huangtian International Airport on Wednesdays, Fridays and Sundays. To meet rising demand for the service, on May 12 China Southern Airlines replaced its previous aircraft with a wider-bodied Boeing 747-400, a lease from Alaska Airlines.
According to Yan Zhiqing, general manager of China Southern Airlines, the airline chose Shenzhen because of the city's status as one of the country's key distribution centres for foreign trade. Before China Southern, three foreign airlines opened cargo lines from Shenzhen's Huangtian Airport.
Shenzhen offers various preferential policies for air cargo businesses, and is flexible in terms of warehousing and Customs formalities.
Huangtian Airport lies next to the Guangzhou-Shenzhen Expressway, which is far more convenient for cargo movement than the crowded Baiyun Airport in Guangzhou.
Due to limited space, Baiyun is struggling to cope with 120 tonnes of cargo a day. And, before the new Guangzhou airport is put into operation in three years, Huangtian Airport will already be established as an air cargo centre.