According to a Xinhua report, the three shipping companies intend to transport containers through northern China's largest bonded port area in Tianjin.
Tianjin's 10-square-kilometre port area is scheduled to begin operations by the end of this year at which time it will enjoy preferential taxation and foreign exchange policies. The port area will focus on providing international distribution, global procurement and export processing services.
Port authorities say Tianjin port is on track to handle 270 million tons of cargo and seven million TEU this year as the city's Binhai New Area starts to take off.
In 2006, the port's container throughput reached 5.95 million TEU and cargo volumes grew to 258 million tons.