Dynamic impacts of Harbor Tolls Policy on China's port economy - The case of Zhanjiang Port

The government of China has imposed the Harbor Tolls Policy on freight exported or imported through open ports in China since 1980s.This policy aims to raise construction funds for port infrastructures so as to meet the demand of foreign trade. The Harbor Tolls has been set as a government-controlled fund exclusively for the construction and maintenance of port public infrastructures. In the past thirty years, the Harbor Tolls Policy has undergone three stages of adjustment, meanwhile the China's ports have experienced the macro-policy changes. It is an issue that whether or not the Harbor Tolls Policy has promoted the construction of ports during that period and will still play the role of capital funding for port construction under the trends of diversifying port investment bodies. This paper first introduced the evolution of Harbor Tolls Policy systematically. Then, considering the dynamic relationship between the Harbor Tolls Policy and port micro-environment, the variable parameters of the state space model based on production function is employed to analyze the dynamic impacts of Harbor Tolls Policy on port economy. Finally, Zhanjiang Port is taken as an example to define the role of Harbor Tolls Policy in the development of port economy.