At this press conference in Shanghai, it was announced that China has won five "world firsts"
The scale of China's shipowner fleet, port cargo throughput, port container throughput, inland waterway freight volume, and inland waterway navigation mileage are all the world's top five indicators. At the Shanghai Municipal Government press conference held on September 12th, Gao Haiyun, a second level inspector of the Water Transport Bureau of the Ministry of Transport, introduced the high-quality development of China's shipping industry.
The shipping industry is an important part of the comprehensive transportation system and an important support to serve the economic and social development and national major strategies, and help realize Chinese path to modernization. At present, China's waterway freight volume and cargo turnover account for 16.9% and 53.5% of the comprehensive transportation system, respectively, effectively serving the country's economic and social development. At the same time, sea transportation accounts for about 95% of China's foreign trade transportation volume and plays an important role in ensuring the safe, stable and smooth transportation of key materials such as imported grain and energy resources, as well as international and domestic logistics supply chains.
It is reported that in recent years, the high-quality development of China's shipping industry has achieved many important results.
China's maritime service network covers the world, and the advantages of inland waterway shipping are further leveraged. China has established airline links with more than 100 countries and regions, covering all coastal countries and regions along the "the Belt and Road", constantly improving the service network, and leading the world in maritime connectivity. The fleet size owned by Chinese shipowners has reached 249.2 million tons, surpassing Greece to become the world's largest shipowner and the world's largest. China's port cargo throughput and container throughput have ranked first in the world for many consecutive years. Among the top ten ports in the world in terms of port throughput and container throughput, China holds 8 and 7 seats respectively. In 2022, the national port cargo throughput reached 15.685 billion tons, with a container throughput of 296 million TEUs, fully demonstrating the "hardcore" power of serving economic and social development. The freight volume of inland waterways has consistently ranked first in the world for many years, with the longest navigable inland waterways in the world. The Yangtze River trunk line has become the busiest and largest waterway for inland waterway transportation in the world for many consecutive years. In 2022, China's inland waterway transportation completed a freight volume of 4.402 billion tons and a cargo turnover of 1.9 trillion tons per kilometer, significantly enhancing its ability to support and guarantee regional economic development.
Major water transport projects have been actively promoted, and fixed assets investment has maintained rapid growth. The water and land area engineering of the Xiaoyangshan North Container Terminal project has started construction comprehensively, and a batch of major projects have been completed and accepted. Statistics show that in 2022, China completed an investment of 167.9 billion yuan in water transportation construction, a year-on-year increase of 10.9%; In the first half of 2023, the investment in water transport construction will be 93.6 billion yuan, up 26.7% year on year. fixed assets investment will remain high, providing strong support for stable growth and expanding domestic demand.
The structure of waterway transportation is accelerating adjustment, and the quality and level of services are constantly improving. China is vigorously developing rail water intermodal transportation, with a volume of 8.747 million TEUs in 2022, a year-on-year increase of 16%. In the first half of 2023, the container rail water intermodal transportation volume completed 4.778 million TEUs, a year-on-year increase of 9.4%. Actively promoting the high-quality development of waterway passenger transportation, deepening the high-quality domestic waterway tourism passenger transportation routes, and continuously improving service quality and level. The safe and orderly resumption of passenger routes between the mainland and Hong Kong and Macao, and the orderly resumption of international cruise transportation pilot flights. To promote the improvement of port service capabilities, 11 container hub seaports and 15 key port enterprises have established a "one-stop" online business acceptance service platform, continuously improving the quality of refrigerated container port and shipping services.
The pace of green and low-carbon development in water transportation is accelerating, and the foundation for safe development is constantly being consolidated. Efforts have been made nationwide to promote the use of shore power for ships docking at ports. Positive progress has been made in the use of shore power for ships in the Yangtze River Economic Belt and large dry bulk ships in coastal domestic trade. Demonstration applications of shore power have been carried out for international container ships and cruise ships docking at ports. The inter provincial passenger and roll off ship terminal in Bohai Bay has achieved full coverage and use of shore power. Actively promoting the development of new energy and clean energy ships, with approximately 450 LNG powered ships and 150 electric ships in China. Consolidate the achievements of pollution prevention and control actions for ships and ports in the Yangtze River Economic Belt, and achieve normalized management. Strengthen the management of major hazards in ports, and the overall situation of port waterway safety production remains stable.
Innovative and intelligent development has achieved new results, and the level of open cooperation has further improved. The construction of smart ports and smart waterways has been deeply promoted, with 16 automated container terminals built and more than 10 under construction, both of which rank first in the world in terms of scale. The national electronic waterway map has been released for over 5700 kilometers, and the connection between the main and branch channels of the Yangtze River system electronic waterway map continues to advance. The digital and intelligent transformation and development of waterway operation monitoring, cascade ship lock joint scheduling, and service area function improvement are accelerating. Actively promoting the digital transformation of shipping, continuously expanding the application of blockchain based electronic shipping platforms for imported shipping containers and bulk cargo, and exploring the application of electronic shipping bills of lading. The international shipping industry has fully opened up to the outside world, and 70 bilateral and regional shipping agreements have been signed with 66 countries and regions. The Shanghai International Shipping Center has been basically built, and the international influence of shipping has significantly increased.