Shanghai eyes glory as shipping hub

By WANG YING in Shanghai | China Daily | Updated:Jul 9, 2021

The municipal government of Shanghai has set a goal\r\n for the city to emerge as a world-class international shipping center \r\nduring the 14th Five-Year Plan period (2021-25).

Officials said on Thursday that by 2025, Shanghai will be also \r\ncapable of multiple shipping-related accomplishments each year: handling\r\n more than 47 million TEUs (twenty-foot equivalent units) of containers \r\nat its ports each year; receiving 130 million passenger trips; and \r\nclearing 4.1 million metric tons of cargo at its airports.

In the past five years, Shanghai has become an international shipping\r\n center and acquired the preliminary capability of allocating global \r\nshipping resources, said the 14th five-year guideline on Shanghai's \r\ndevelopment into an international shipping center.

Shanghai was rated third among international shipping centers behind \r\nonly Singapore and London by the 2020 Xinhua-Baltic International \r\nShipping Center Development Index.

Shanghai's international influence is steadily growing, said Yu Fulin, director of Shanghai Municipal Transport Commission.

"In accordance with the central government's new strategy, and \r\nfollowing the new requirements for the development as a shipping center,\r\n Shanghai would try its best to build a hub and strategic nexus under \r\nthe new dual-circulation development pattern. Shanghai will upgrade \r\nitself into a world-class international shipping center with \r\nconvenience, high efficiency, full functions, eco-friendliness and \r\nstrong safeguards by 2025," said Yu.

The city's municipal government has identified seven main tasks for \r\nthe coming five years: optimization of shipping industry clusters' \r\nrespective strengths and characteristics; integration and high-quality \r\ndevelopment of ports across the Yangtze River Delta region; enhancement \r\nof global aviation resource allocation ability; creation of a high-class\r\n cruise economic center; promotion of sustainable development as a \r\nshipping center with the aid of technology; improvement of \r\nshipping-related services; and strengthening of capabilities related to \r\nthe shipping industry.

Shanghai Port has been the world's busiest container port in terms of\r\n container throughput for 11 consecutive years. The fourth phase of \r\nShanghai Yangshan Deep Water Port is currently the world's biggest \r\nautomated container terminal with an annual capacity of 5 million TEUs \r\nby the end of 2020, according to Zhang Xin, vice-president of Shanghai \r\nInternational Port Group.

"During the 14th Five-Year Plan period, we will look to maintain the \r\nfourth phase of the Yangshan Port project's leading position in its \r\nscale, efficiency and technology. The goal is to accomplish handling of \r\n30 million TEUs of containers at the automated terminal in the coming \r\nfive years, and expand its annual capacity to 7 million TEUs," said \r\nZhang.

During the 14th Five-Year Plan period, the Shanghai Airport Authority\r\n will focus on increasing its ground facilities as well as enhancing the\r\n capabilities to support large passenger volumes.

"We are going to build world-class facilities like an aviation hub, \r\nincluding the fourth phase expansion project of Shanghai Pudong \r\nInternational Airport, the construction of an intelligent new cargo \r\nstation, and other comprehensive facilities," said Zhou Junlong, \r\nvice-president of the Shanghai Airport Authority.

An important part of the fourth phase expansion of Shanghai Pudong \r\nInternational Airport is the construction of a 1.19 million-square-meter\r\n Terminal 3, which is designed to handle 50 million passenger trips per \r\nyear.

As of 2019, there were more than 100 aviation firms operating at \r\nShanghai Hongqiao International Airport and Shanghai Pudong \r\nInternational Airport. They connect 314 destinations in 50 nations.

The two airports handled 120 million passengers trips and 4.058 \r\nmillion tons of cargo each year, ranking fourth and third respectively \r\namong global cities.

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