The municipal government of Shanghai has set a goal for the city to become a world-class international shipping center during the 14th Five Year Plan period (2021-25). Officials said that by 2025, Shanghai will be handling more than 47 million TEU at its ports each year; recording 130 million passenger trips; and clearing 4.1 million metric tons of cargo at its airports. Shanghai was rated third among international shipping centers behind only Singapore and London by the 2020 Xinhua-Baltic International Shipping Center Development Index. Shanghai’s international influence is steadily growing, said Yu Fulin, Director of the Shanghai Municipal Transport Commission.
The municipal government has identified seven main tasks for the coming five years: optimization of shipping industry clusters; integration and high-quality development of ports across the Yangtze River Delta; enhancement of global aviation resources; creation of a high-class cruise center; promotion of sustainable development as a shipping center with the aid of technology; improvement of shipping-related services; and strengthening of capabilities related to the shipping industry.
Shanghai Port has been the world’s busiest container port in terms of throughput for 11 consecutive years. The fourth phase of the Shanghai Yangshan Deep Water Port is currently the world’s biggest automated container terminal with an annual capacity of 5 million TEU by the end of 2020, according to Zhang Xin, Vice President of the Shanghai International Port Group. The goal is to handle 30 million TEU of containers at the automated terminal in the coming five years, and expand its annual capacity to 7 million TEU, said Zhang.
During the 14th Five Year Plan period, the Shanghai Airport Authority will focus on increasing its ground facilities as well as enhancing the capabilities to support large passenger volumes. The plans include the fourth phase expansion project of the Shanghai Pudong International Airport and the construction of an intelligent new cargo station. An important part of the fourth phase expansion of the Shanghai Pudong International Airport is the construction of a 1.19 million square-meter Terminal 3, which is designed to handle 50 million passenger trips per year. As of 2019, there were more than 100 airlines operating at Shanghai Hongqiao and Pudong International Airports, connecting 314 destinations in 50 nations. The two airports handled 120 million passengers trips and 4.058 million tons of cargo each year, ranking fourth and third respectively among global cities, the China Daily reports.
