East China's Shandong province will continue to boost its marine economy by focusing on the development of ports, marine industries and ecology, said Li Ganjie, governor of Shandong.

In recent years, Shandong has made solid progress in building itself into a strong maritime powerhouse, according to Li.

The Shandong Port Group, which integrates major facilities within Shandong, including ports at Qingdao, Yantai, Rizhao and Bohai Bay, was established last August.

A container ship from South Korea docks at Qingdao Port, Shandong province. [Photo by Zhang Jingang/For China Daily]

In 2019, the group's cargo throughput reached 1.3 billion tons, ranking first in China. In the first half of this year, its throughput of goods reached 703 million tons, up 7.1 percent.

Last year the province's gross ocean production increased by about nine percent, and the output value of marine equipment grew by more than 30 percent. The number of State-level marine ranching demonstration zones reached 44, accounting for 40 percent of the country's total.

Li added that Shandong has also launched a series of measures to promote the marine environment and ecological protection. The province has established a marine environment monitoring system and demonstration zones for promoting marine ecological progress.

Shandong is planning for the further development of its ports and port-related industries as well as improving the ecology of its bay areas, Li said.