China kicked off on Friday the construction of its largest coal dock in the Caofeidian Port, North China's Hebei Province.

The throughput of the dock is expected to reach 200 million tons, making it an important base of China's coal transmission strategy from north to south.

The first period of the construction project will be completed in 2008 and by then the dock's throughput will be 50 million tons, said Xu Demao, director of Caofeidian Industrial Zone Administration.

The official said the total investment in the project will be over 100 billion yuan (12.5 billion U.S. dollars).

Currently, Hebei has large coal docks in Qinghuangdao Port and Huanghua Port.

Source: Xinhua