China has opened the cabotage market to foreign vessels as the Merete Maersk transported 725 tons of vegetables from Shanghai's Yangshan port to the port of Tianjin. The vegetables had arrived in Shanghai from Vancouver, Canada, in 27 containers. The trip marked the first Chinese coastal relay of international cargo by a foreign carrier, which is regarded as a breakthrough as it used to be strictly prohibited.
Zhou Dequan, Director of the Shanghai International Shipping Institute’s Domestic Shipping Research Office, said efforts have been made for years to launch such international relay shipments, and major progress has recently been made. The strategy was included in the central government’s plan to boost development of Shanghai as an international shipping center. In November 2021, the Ministry of Transport announced that international cargo relay activities would be allowed on a trial basis until the end of 2024. Based on third-country reciprocity and meeting several additional criteria, qualified foreign carriers can use their own vessels to carry out international cargo relays between Shanghai's Yangshan port and northern Chinese ports, including Dalian, Tianjin and Qingdao.
“We are proud to be the first foreign company that successfully implements international cargo relay in China. Transshipment in Shanghai allows us to improve services through optimized networks and can also address some of the factors behind the bottlenecks in Chinese supply chains, shortening transit times, reducing emissions and freeing up additional capacity for our customers,” said Soren Skou, CEO of A.P. Moller-Maersk. The opening of China’s cabotage market for foreign carriers allows overseas operators to fully utilize their free space and further lower shipping costs, Zhou said. These carriers used to go via Busan, South Korea, and Singapore, as well as other international ports for transshipment, the China Daily reports.
