Taiwan News
Date: 2015-08-14
By: ERIKA KINETZ, Associated Press
SHANGHAI (AP) — Explosions that sent huge fireballs through China’s Tianjin port have
disrupted the flow of cars, oil, iron ore and other items through the world’s 10th largest port.
The blast sent shipping containers tumbling into one another, leaving them in bent, charred piles. Rows of new cars, lined up on vast lots for distribution across China, were reduced to blackened carcasses.
Ships carrying oil and “hazardous products” were barred from the port Thursday, the Tianjin Maritime Safety Administration said on its official microblog. It also said vessels were not allowed to enter the central port zone, which is near the blast site.
Tianjin is the 10th largest port in the world by container volume and the seventh largest in China, according to the World Shipping Council, moving more containers than the ports of Rotterdam, Hamburg and Los Angeles. It handles vast quantities of metal ore, coal, steel, cars and crude oil. [FULL STORY]