CONFIDENTIAL
- 25-
75.
The factory had a total area of 15 000 sq. m and employed about 1 000 workers. Most of the equipments used were imported from Japan, Germany and USA. It produced about 70 000 pieces of garments annually, but, unlike the refrigerator factory we just visited, it did not have the authority to conduct foreign trade. Orders were received from the state-owned foreign trading companies. Therefore, although the factory looked busy during our visit and its conference room was decorated with the many awards it had received as a model factory, it was no more than a subcontractor of the state. Production and sales were rigidly fixed according to state plan which it no doubt had diligently fulfilled.
It did not however had any say in the development of new products or new markets, and the
prospect of business expansion, except initiated by the upper authorities, was slim.
Visit to Dalian Port Authority and Tour of the Harbour
76.
In the afternoon we met Mr. Yuan Fuxiu (
), Deputy Director of the Port of Dalian Authority ( *** ).
**** ). He told us that apart from the construction and management of Dalian Harbour, the Port Authority was also responsible for the administration of a related 140-km railway network, highway transportation and support facilities like clinics, hospitals and nurseries. The Port Authority was like a small
community which engaged a total staff of 26 000 persons. Dalian Port also had 9 domestic passenger lines carrying over 4 million passengers annually. During peak season, its terminal could handle 20 000 passengers daily.
77.
Mr. Yuan said that Dalian had an excellent natural harbour (Annex X). The area of the harbour was very extensive, and water drew to a depth of 8 to 11 m in the old port, 13 m in the Dayao Bay, and as much as 17 m in the oil wharf at Xingang where crude oil from the Daqing Oilfield ( 大慶油田 ) in the Heilongjiang Province was exported. The port was not only important for Dalian but also for North East China as a whole, as 80% of the cargo handled by Dalian belonged to entrepôt trade. As the old port had more or less reached its full capacity - in fact some times vessels had to wait at the outer harbour
......