China's strong demands for iron ores have boosted the growth of international marine transportation markets, but its domestic shipping business has not benefited from this success.

Many people agree that while the Chinese shipping business is large, it is still not a fully developed industrial sector. With a total tramp fleet capacity of up to 100 million tons, China cannot find enough ships suitable for transporting iron ores from its allied iron-rich countries such as Australia and Brazil. Therefore, Chinese steel makers have to turn their eyes overseas and have signed most of their contracts with foreign shipping companies from Japan, Europe, South Korea, and other developed countries. Consequently, they are facing more pressures from soaring production costs.

For more details, please read the full story in Chinese. (http://www.chinabusinesspost.net/showArticle.php?ID=9726)

(China.org.cn August 6 2007)