Ports in China play big role in boosting recovery

Boasting the majority of the world's largest ports, China has made positive contributions toward the resumption of global industrial and supply chains and promoted the world's economic recovery, a senior official said on Tuesday.

"Eight out of the world's top 10 ports in terms of cargo throughput are Chinese, and seven of the 10 biggest container ports worldwide are in China, making it the country with the greatest marine transportation connectivity," Transport Minister Li Xiaopeng said at the opening ceremony of the 2022 North Bund Forum on Tuesday.

Amid the world's economic uncertainties and the COVID-19 pandemic, it's critically important to raise the resilience, intelligence and green level of the global shipping supply chain, which is helpful for the recovery of the global economy, as well as the stability of industrial and supply chains, Li said.

Li called for the global shipping industry to work together to build a world-class shipping center, accelerate the development of the Yangtze River Delta shipping hub and speed up global collaboration in transportation.

Themed "Green, Intelligent and Resilient Global Shipping & Aviation through Global Partnerships", the 2022 North Bund Forum will extend until Thursday.

Gong Zheng, mayor of Shanghai, said Shanghai has made new progress in developing a global shipping center in the past year.

The city takes a leading position among global shipping centers. Shanghai has held the third position worldwide for three straight years in the Xinhua-Baltic International Shipping Center Development Index. The container throughput of Shanghai Port reached 47.03 million twenty-foot equivalent units (TEUs) in 2021, ranking first globally for 12 years in a row, said Gong.

Shanghai has gathered a stellar list of shipping industry leaders, institutions and organizations including COSCO Shipping, the world's largest shipbuilder China State Shipbuilding Corp (CSSC), Shanghai Zhenhua Heavy Industries Co Ltd, China Eastern Airlines, Commercial Aircraft Corp of China and more, Gong added.

With the further expansion of their capacities at the port of Shanghai and the city's airports, Shanghai is projected to see its container throughput capacity exceed 65 million TEUs by 2035, and capable of handling more than 280 million passenger trips annually by air, Gong noted.

Hosted jointly by the Shanghai Municipal People's Government and the Ministry of Transport, the forum consists of an opening ceremony, the main forum, two paralleled forums and six thematic sessions, according to Zhang Wei, vice-mayor of Shanghai.

The two paralleled forums are the North Bund International Shipping Forum and the North Bund International Aviation Forum. The shipping forum focuses on the forerunner and pilot of green, smart and resilient supply chain, and the aviation forum is for sharing opportunities of the digital economy and building green and smart civil aviation.