Preventing Epidemic Disease and Developing Economy Without Any Letup

Wang Yuzhen Zhang Junpeng Translated by Zhang Xiang

Ever since the 2020 Spring Festival， due to the novel coronavirus pneumonia epidemic （COVID-19） spreading over China， while many industries have slowed down the resumption of work and production， Qinzhou Free Trade Port Area in Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region switched their work focus to both epidemic prevention and economic development.

Resumption of work and production has much to do with the economic development

The Qinzhou Free Trade Port Area is the closest port area to ASEAN， consisting of a terminal operation area， a bonded logistics area， a bonded processing area， and a management service area. After 11 years of development， the Port Area established its special industries such as shipping logistics， commodity trading， vehicle import， and wine import， etc.， serving as a window to and a trading platform for ASEAN and international markets.

In 2019， the container throughput of Qinzhou Free Trade Port Area exceeded 3 million TEUs with an increase of 33%， ranking first in Chinas coastal ports. It has successfully imported Chinas first batch of specialty businesses such as Malaysian birds nest and Australian breeding cattle.

The Qinzhou Free Trade Port Area hosts some major projects of the city， and now is shifting its work focus to supporting and promoting the key enterprise to resume work gradually at this critical moment of the national health crisis.

Incentive policies： assurances for resuming work and production

Due to the spread of the COVID-19 and the Spring Festival holiday， many enterprises in Guangxi face problems such as ineffective transportation and logistics， and difficulty in recruiting workers. To address such problems， Guangxi has taken both “strict management” and “helpful measures” in the epidemic prevention and stable economic promotion， with a purpose to help enterprises quickly resume their production.

On February 7， 2020， Guangxi issued Measures on Supporting Winning Epidemic Prevention and Promoting Stable Economic Operation， and put forward 30 specific policy measures， including helping enterprises to resume work， promoting investment and major projects， and assuring the sufficient supply of essential productive materials， to help enterprises back to work. The work resumption has started in a staggering style since February 10. The Department of Industry and Information Technology in Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region has set up a special organization for this， adopting “one enterprise， one strategy” to coordinate with enterprises overcoming the difficulties in staff returning， transportation， industrial chain coordination and financing.

After taking various measures to ensure the work resumption， Guangxi received positive responses. As of February 17， 2，548 industrial enterprises have resumed work and this number takes up 41.6% of the total.

On February 20， 2020， the Mayor of Qinzhou City Tan Jichuang， who is also the leader of the Epidemic Prevention and Control Workgroup and of the command team， presided over the meeting on resuming the key projects and the command team meeting. He pointed out that it is necessary to list the major projects under construction as soon as possible and to classify them in accordance with their levels， sectors， and regions. It is necessary to schedule the resumption of projects， in order to speed up the resumption of key projects with a focus on those flagship projects. The implmentation of “one enterprise， one strategy” must be assured and problems existed in key projects have to be fully resolved.

Qinzhou Municipal Party Committee Secretary Xu Yongzheng， Qinzhou Executive Deputy Mayor， Executive Deputy Director of Guangxi Qinzhou Free Trade Port Area Administrative Committee Wang Xiongchang， and Deputy Director of Qinzhou Free Trade Port Area Management CommitteeWang Wenyuan， etc. have paid their visit to the enterprises in the Port Area. While inspecting the epidemic prevention and control work， they also checked the enterprises resumption of work and production. Xu urged them to stay extremely alert， and organize resumption of work and production in a safe and orderly manner， and plan for greater development goals on the premise of comprehensive implementation of epidemic prevention and control measures.

In this port area， except some companies with protective functions， such as CRIntermodal and other terminal companies， who did not stop their production at all， since February 10， the companies have successively applied for the resumption of work and production. As of February 20， 76 companies in the Port Area have resumed work and production， and major port logistics， production and processing companies， and third-party service agencies have also resumed work.

Good defense： to ensure safe resumption

The approval of the resumption of work and production does not mean the epidemic prevention is coming to an end; instead， this requires more efforts to construct a strong defense against the epidemic. The port accommodates mostly logistics enterprises， who have a large number of transport vehicles and personnel in and out of the port area. Therefore， it is necessary to implement very strict epidemic prevention and control measures. In order to achieve the “zero infection”， “zero neglect”， and “zero delay”， we should print and distribute the guide papers to operating posts， implement strict temperature detection and regular disinfection， and supervise and quarantine returned employees for 14 days and ask immigrants and emigrants to fill out a health declaration card.

In order to ensure enterprises in the port area resume work safely as soon as possible， the Guangxi Qinzhou Free Trade Port Area Management Committee has optimized their services， providing a “grid style” and “one-to-one style” supervision and service for the enterprises who are applying for the work resumption.

Sea-rail transport tops the work chart of the Guangxi Qinzhou Free Trade Port Area. Before the epidemic came to the public concern， many areas of China had taken stronger control of their roads， which in turn brought out the advantages of sea-rail transport. In the railway container center station of the Port Area， containers are stacked on trains， transporting cargoes to everywhere in China. During the Spring Festival， China Railway United International Container Guangxi Co.， Ltd. did not stop their operation. By February 13， 2020， the central station has maintained a stable growth of 81.6% in sea-rail transport.

“Apart from the New Years Eve， the wharf has been operating non-stop，” according to Chen Lianghe， manager of the safety management department of Qinzhou Terminal Co.， Ltd. He also said that from January 1 to February 13， the port cargo throughput of the company has reached 10.2 million tons， and that of the container has exceeded 343，000 TEUs， a year-on-year increase of 26%. Between February 3 and February 13， a total of 119，000 tons of freshly imported fruits， soybeans， liquefied civil gas and other consumer goods were inspected and released in Qinzhou Port Area. Besides， the volume of customs clearance goods was far higher than that of the same period in 2019.

In addition， the Qinzhou Port Area concerned itself a lot over the drivers meals. “Only when the epidemic prevention work and service assurance are in place， can the enterprise safely resume production，” said Zhang Yonghao. Affected by the epidemic， the restaurants in the area were closed. Those truck drivers could not find places to eat but had some instant noodles or biscuits instead. The local administrative committee of the Qinzhou Port Area learned this and contacted the canteen of government department to provide food delivery. “A meal costs RMB 15 yuan， including two types of meat and two types of vegetables， and we received more than 70 orders before noon today，” said Qin Xiaoqiong， a local staff member.

Moreover， while ensuring its normal operation， the Qinzhou Port Area also donated 250，000 tons of fruits and vegetables to Wuhan， including wax gourds， dragon fruits， Shatian pomelos， etc. Among others， it also donated 600 face masks， 200 pairs of medical gloves， one forehead temperature gun， disinfectant liquids， as well as a batch of living materials such as milk， drinking water， instant noodles and others to help fight the epidemic in Wuhan.

·Source： xinhuanet.com， China News， Qinzhou Daily， the website of Guangxi Qinzhou Free Trade Port Area Administrative Committee