Starting from the year of 2005, July 11 isapproved by the State Council of PRC to be China’s’Maritime Day’ every year, and also the executivedate of ’World Maritime Day’ in China. July 11, 2005commemorates the 600th anniversary of the epicvoyage by Chinese navigator Zheng He. Presently,China owns a merchant fleet of some 210,000 shipswith a total carrying capacity over 86 million DWT.It is the 4th largest country in the world in term ofthe dead weight tonnage with the state-controlledshipping fleet being its main force. These ships aresailing to ports worldwide. Approximately 90 percentof China’s import and export cargoes are transportedby ocean shipping. Till now China has signedbilateral maritime agreements with more than 60countries and regions and has been establishinghealthy maritime relationships with all major tradingpartners. Last year, both cargo throughput andcontainer throughput at ports in Mainland of Chinawere recorded in the first place all over the world.The number of China’s seamen is also top seededworldwide. The theme of China’s first ’Maritime Day’is ’Deep Patriotism’, ’Good Neighbourliness’ and’Scientific Navigation’.
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