Shanghai ranked 6th best shipping center in the world

Shanghai has moved up the rankings of the world's top shipping centers to sixth place, surpassing Dubai thanks to free trade zone regulations and the Belt and Road Initiative, according to a report and index looking at the importance of the world's key shipping centers.

The report, jointly published by the Baltic Exchange and China's Xinhua news agency, covers 46 of the world's largest ports and cities as a guide showing the relative performances of these shipping centers around the world.

The index evaluates criteria including maritime services, such as brokerage and arbitration, and business environment, such as economic freedom and tariffs, and port facilities.

Singapore tops the list while London takes second place, followed by Hong Kong.

Market insiders said Shanghai's opportunities lie in further strengthened linkages between foreign trade maritime services and inland shipping, and leverage resources from free trade zones of the country, the Yangtze River Delta economic belt, and the Belt and Road Initiative.

In recent years, the market has seen Shanghai's improvements and advancement in several aspects, including brokerage and insurance, and emerging economic patterns and many initiatives have driven economic growth, said Jeremy Penn, CEO of the Baltic Exchange.

"Taken together, it is not surprising to see that Shanghai is reaching such a strong position," said Penn.

Shanghai has also been reaching out of China for operations and business expansion in order to meet foreign trade demands and leverage more opportunities from capital deployments.

In late March, the Shanghai International Port (Group) Co, Ltd won the bid in late March to operate the new port in Haifa for 25 years starting from 2021. The group is also looking at opportunities to work together with ports in Germany.