Dalian port announced March 17 that it will build a Northeast Asian iron ore logistics centre, including logistics, production, and trade sectors.

The centre will enhance the influence of Dalian Commodity Exchange, said a source from Dalian port. The centre will also lead the iron ore trade in Northeast Asia, the source added.

The centre is planned to be made up of an iron ore handling centre, a distribution centre, as well as a sales centre. The handling centre will provide loading and storage services; the distribution centre will be in charge of the transhipment to Japan and South Korea; and the sales centre will be developed into a platform for bonded iron ore trading around Bohai Sea and in Northeast Asia via the co-operation with Brazilian multinational mining company, Vale.

An iron ore production base near the port is under planning, so is an iron ore future trading base.

To build this centre, Dalian port has established the 400,000dwt ore berth, and created the record of loading down 350,000 tonnes of iron ore within 55 hours.

The port has four ore depot, which are able to store 8.22 million tonnes of iron ore at most, and it has the only bonded depot in China, capable to store over 10 million tonnes of ore.

Last year, the port has handled a total of 351 million tonnes of cargos, 17.56 million tonnes more than a year earlier and up 5.5 percent on an annual basis.