Authorities in East China's Shandong Province said it aims to achieve marine industry output value of more than 2.3 trillion yuan ($334.42 billion) by 2022, by construction of the world first-class seaports, marine industry system and improving marine ecological environment, a Shandong official revealed during a press release in Beijing on Tuesday.
Shandong will put more effort on marine management and planning to boost marine economy, said Gong Zheng, Governor of Shandong province during a press conference of the State Council Information Office on Tuesday. "To meet the goal, Shandong will take action in three aspects: ports, marine industry and ecosystem."
On modern marine industry system construction, Shandong has fostered industrial clusters worth billions of yuan in marine equipment manufacturing, marine engineering and marine biological medicine. "The added value of emerging oceanic industrial output increased by 22.9 percent last year, which is expected to reach 2.3 trillion yuan in 2022 and will account for more than 23 percent of total GDP in Shandong," Gong added.
The construction of first-class and world-level ports is a priority, said the official. Shandong will establish a group containing ports in the Bohai Gulf, integrating Binzhou port, Dongying port and Weifang port. Meanwhile, Shandong will also push integration of the Port of Qingdao Group and Weihai Port Group.
The integration of the two port companies can optimize allocation and realize resource integration in order to achieve scale effect, Wu Minghua, an industry expert told the Global Times on Tuesday. 
Stock of the company Port of Qingdao, controlling shareholder of Qingdao port, has jumped from 8.32 yuan ($1.21) to as high as 8.84 yuan right after the news of integration was confirmed by Shandong official. 
Shandong Province ranked second after South China's Guangdong Province in terms of cargo handling capacity of seaports in May, with 135 million tons of cargo or 258 twenty-foot equivalent units (TEU), up 108.2 percent year-on-year, according to data released by China Ports and Harbours Association. 
Qingdao seaport has the biggest amount of container throughput in the Bohai Sea area, with 180 TEUs in May, while volume of cargo handled at Weihai port was 39 TEUs.
"After integration with Qingdao port, Weihai port can focus on passenger transport, of which it has a geographical advantage since it is close to South Korea and Japan. Qingdao port can therefore integrate resources of both ports on container freight," said Wu.