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Shanghai is on track to handle more than 50 million TEUs this year, the city’s Mayor Gong Zheng said at the recent 2024 North Bund Forum.
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The milestone would make Shanghai the first city to surpass the 50 million TEU mark, reflecting its key role in global shipping
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Shanghai is committed to strengthening its status as a global shipping center that promotes clean energy, digital innovation, and greater automation
Shanghai is on track to handle more than 50 million TEUs (twenty-foot equivalent unit) this year, the city’s Mayor Gong Zheng said at the recent 2024 North Bund Forum.
This would solidify Shanghai’s standing as the world’s largest container port.
The milestone would make Shanghai the first city to surpass the 50 million TEU mark, reflecting its key role in global shipping.
Gong said Shanghai is committed to strengthening its status as a global shipping center that promotes clean energy, digital innovation, and greater automation, notably at the Yangshan Port, considered as the world’s largest automated container terminal.
The port’s higher automation will handle rising cargo flows more efficiently, the mayor said. There are plans to liberalize the finance sector and improve legal frameworks to attract global carriers, with a focus on maritime arbitration as well as marine insurance.
Last year, Shanghai handled 49.16 million TEUs, which was a 3.9% increase from 2022.
Shanghai’s container volume for the first nine months of this year hit 39.1 million TEUs, which was an 8% hike from the same period last year.
The city is likewise advancing various green initiatives, such as the development of facilities to produce green methanol from food waste by the Shenergy Group, thereby contributing to the carbon reduction goals of the shipping industry.
By next year, Shanghai expects to produce between 70,000 to 100,000 tons of the alternative fuel per annum.
In another development also at the North Bund Forum, the Port of Hamburg, Germany and Shanghai Port announced the creation of a green shipping corridor between the two, aimed at promoting their green transformation while strengthening cooperation and exchange.
It would collectively advance the sustainable development of the worldwide shipping industry.
The Shanghai Municipal Transportation Commission, the Hamburg Port Authority, COSCO Shipping Lines Co. Ltd., and the Shanghai International Port Group Co. Ltd signed a memorandum of understanding to jointly build the green shipping corridor.
Under the MOU, the parties agreed to cooperated to promote the construction and use of shore power at the ports, explore and promote the needed infrastructure, and invite more partners to join in the efforts to achieve the green shipping corridor goal, among others.
