Reference News Network, January 20 report: The Hong Kong South China Morning Post website published an article titled "Ambitious: China's Port Giant Rides the Wave with Record Growth" on January 19. The following is a compilation of the report:

Despite the severe fluctuations in global trade in 2025, China continues to steadily advance its port expansion agenda, building larger and more strategically located hub ports to lay the foundation for future trade.

Official data shows that in the first 11 months of 2025, China's foreign trade container throughput increased by 9.5%, helping the country achieve a record high trade surplus of $1.19 trillion for the year.

Major ports contributed to this record. Taking Shanghai as an example, Shanghai Port's container throughput exceeded 55 million TEUs in 2025, setting a new annual record.

According to the Ningbo Customs, by early December last year, the annual container throughput of Zhejiang Ningbo Zhoushan Port surpassed 40 million TEUs, becoming the third port in the world, after Shanghai Port and Singapore Port, to reach this milestone in annual throughput.

Professor Zhen Hong from Shanghai Maritime University said that it is expected that China's port throughput capacity will continue to grow over the next five years, but the growth rate will slow down. He emphasized "transportation first," stating that "forward-looking port infrastructure" is crucial for supporting the development of inland hinterlands and trade expansion.

Data released by the General Administration of Customs last week showed that China's total exports in 2025 grew by 5.5% year-on-year to $3.77 trillion, still serving as one of the pillars of the world's second-largest economy. The strong export performance comes at a time when China is shifting toward a new growth model centered on consumption and domestic demand, gradually reducing its reliance on traditional investment and trade.

Wang Jun, deputy director of the General Administration of Customs, stated that despite the lack of momentum in global trade growth, China maintains a stable expectation for this year's foreign trade prospects.

He said at a press conference on the 14th that China's trade partners have become more diverse, significantly enhancing their risk resistance capabilities, and China's foreign trade fundamentals remain solid.

Against this backdrop, China's major ports are consolidating their leading advantages through expansion and upgrades.

Last year, Shandong Port Group announced that it would launch 15 projects in Qingdao with a total investment of 77 billion yuan.

Zhen Hong pointed out that port expansion aims to address two core issues: first, the growth rate of container cargo demand exceeds that of bulk cargo; second, the growth momentum of hub ports is stronger than that of branch ports.

The Chinese government is also committed to playing a more important role in the global shipping network.

Last December, a vice minister of the Water Transport Bureau of the Ministry of Transport told the media that the next step would be to build a number of world-class port areas with annual cargo throughput exceeding 100 million tons or container throughput exceeding 10 million TEUs, integrating digital intelligence and green technologies to comprehensively enhance the port hub capacity and optimize the international shipping route network.

For many years, the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) port liner shipping connectivity index has consistently ranked China among the top globally, with Shanghai Port at the core.

However, as China's economic structure adjusts, overall infrastructure investment has slowed down, and relevant departments are also working to avoid blind investment and disorderly competition.

Zhen Hong mentioned that the sixth meeting of the Central Financial and Economic Affairs Commission held in July last year pointed out that coastal port clusters should be optimized and integrated in an orderly manner. In recent years, some local governments have promoted provincial port integration, and this trend has become increasingly evident.

"Ports should clearly define their positioning based on their own conditions, especially the hinterland demand, to achieve sustainable development," Zhen Hong said.

In 2019, Shandong integrated seven ports within the province into the Shandong Port Group, with Qingdao Port as the core hub, while assigning specialized functions to other ports. According to official data from the group, its total cargo throughput increased from 1.32 billion tons in 2019 to over 1.9 billion tons in 2025. (Translated by Guo Jun)

Ningbo Zhoushan Port's Chuan Shan Container Terminal (Xinhua News Agency)

Original: toutiao.com/article/7597327459176022582/

Statement: This article represents the views of the author himself.