90% of China's foreign trade is transported by sea. Maritime transport plays an important role in strengthening the economic and trade cooperation between China and the rest of the world and promoting the mutual promotion of the domestic and international double cycles. At present, the dominant position of shipping in China's foreign trade pattern is continuing to strengthen. In 2023, the total volume of global shipping will be 12.37 billion tons, and China's foreign trade shipping volume will exceed 3.7 billion tons, and the role of the "China factor" in global shipping will be more obvious.
In terms of category, the proportion of high value-added goods in China's foreign trade shipping has increased year by year, and the types of foreign trade goods have gradually become lighter and higher-value, reflecting the profound changes in the global industrial chain and supply chain in which China participates. At the same time, energy and raw material trade has also maintained an important position in China's foreign trade.
In addition to traditional trading partners such as the United States, the European Union and Japan, the prosperity of cross-border trade and foreign trade shipping between China and emerging market countries has led to structural changes. Take a tracking study by Shanghai International Shipping Research Center as an example: the study found that the rapid development of regional trade between China and Southeast Asia has driven the increase of container sea traffic in the region, which has increasingly consolidated the position of ASEAN as China's largest trading partner.
From the perspective of port throughput, the overall recovery of the national economy has supported the rapid growth of China's coastal port throughput. Driven by the recovery of foreign trade demand, the container throughput of Chinese ports in 2023 has historically exceeded 300 million TEUs, an increase of 4.8%. Among them, the container throughput of Shanghai Port has remained the world's first for 14 consecutive years, and the cargo throughput of Ningbo Zhoushan Port has remained the world's first for 15 consecutive years.
Looking forward to the future, with the accelerated reconstruction of the global industrial chain and supply chain, and the continuous adjustment and optimization of China's own industrial structure, the pattern of China's foreign trade shipping will also change. First, the growth of seaborne trade in bulk energy and raw materials has slowed down, and the seaborne volume of containers with higher added value of goods is expected to continue to rise. The proportion of regional foreign trade shipping with ASEAN as the main trade object is expected to accelerate. Second, shipping will be further integrated into the whole process of supply chain services to adapt to enterprises' pursuit of industrial chain and supply chain security. The popularization and optimization of "end-to-end" service has become a new trend in the development of container shipping. The third is to accelerate the cultivation of new quality maritime productivity characterized by digitalization, wisdom and green, and the transformation of the maritime industry to green and low-carbon aspects, driving the continuous improvement of maritime and coastal port service efficiency.
In this context, to promote the high-quality development of China's foreign trade shipping, we should fully adapt to the new changes brought by the rapid development of regional trade. First, better align RCEP economic and trade rules. Under the RCEP cumulative rules of origin, intermediate products enter and exit between countries many times, resulting in changes in the container shipping cargo structure and regional industrial layout, which should arouse the focus of practitioners. The second is to better adapt to the development trend of smart ports, green ports and intelligent shipping. Terminal operators should carry out intelligent transformation of terminals according to local conditions and speed up the application of ship digitization technology. Port enterprises, shipping enterprises and port management agencies should pay attention to the new trends in the development of global green shipping, and contribute to the realization of carbon peak and carbon neutrality goals.
