North China's Tianjin Municipality will evolve into an international shipping center by 2015, as part of the city's plans for faster economic development, Mayor Huang Xingguo said Sunday at the local parliamentary session.

"In the coming five years, Tianjin will fully exploit its advantages to become a leading international shipping and logistic center in north China," Huang said in his government work report to the annual session of the Tianjin Municipal People's Congress.

The central government, in its plan released in April 2010, has decided to turn Tianjin's Binhai New District into a pivotal harbor linking China with Northeast Asia as well as Central and Western Asia.

Tianjin Port, with a 19.5-meter deep harbor that allows ships up to 300,000 tonnes to anchor, is one of the world's highest class man-made deep-water ports.

The city government plans to optimize its port layout in the coming five years to improve efficiency.

By 2015, the port's annual throughput will hit 560 million tonnes and 18 million standard containers.

Tianjin Port, with 115 container ship routes, is linked with more than 500 ports in 180 countries and regions. At the end of last year, its annual throughput hit 400 million tonnes.

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