The Port of Shanghai’s Annual Container Throughput Surpasses 55.06 Million TEUs in 2025

Marking a Strong Finish to the 14th Five-Year Plan 

2025 Performance

The year 2025 marks the final year of China’s 14th Five-Year Plan (2021-2025). In the face of profound shifts in the global economic and trade landscape and accelerating industry transformation, all employees of Shanghai International Port (Group) Co., Ltd. (SIPG, the Group) rose to the challenge with determination and drive. Through comprehensive advances in lean operations, capacity expansion, intelligent and green upgrading, and coordinated empowerment, the Port of Shanghai has further consolidated its leading position as a world-class shipping hub.

Hub Strength Continues to Lead, with Scale and Efficiency Reaching New Heights

Against a backdrop of sluggish global economic growth in 2025, the Port of Shanghai pressed ahead under pressure. Its annual container throughput exceeded 55.06 million TEUs, representing a year-on-year increase of 6.9% and securing its position as the world’s busiest container port for the 16th consecutive year since 2010. This milestone underscores the Port’s resilience and stability as a critical node in the global supply chain.

International transshipment volume of the Port reached 7.911 million TEUs, up 10.6% year on year, further strengthening its reach and influence as a global hub. Behind these impressive results lies SIPG’s relentless focus on operational efficiency. The Port continues to lead globally in comprehensive berth utilization, successfully navigating challenges ranging from extreme weather events to peak logistics periods, while ensuring the rapid turnaround of vessels on international trade routes and domestic feeder services. These efforts have injected strong momentum into regional economic development.

SIPG’s high-efficiency logistics corridors have become a core engine supporting foreign trade growth. Notably, the Yangshan Deep-Water Port Area recorded year-on-year throughput growth of 10.4%, accounting for 52.1% of the Port’s total volume and setting a global benchmark for the operation of ultra-large deep-water port clusters. The annual throughput of Yangshan Phase III Terminal surpassed 10 million TEUs for the first time, further reinforcing its role as the hub’s core pillar.

Deeper Digital Transformation Elevates the Smart Port Benchmark

Driven by technological innovation, SIPG has reshaped its port operations ecosystem, achieving a decisive shift from “single-point innovation” to “system-wide upgrading.” The rollout of automated terminals continues apace. Intelligent operation control systems at Yangshan Phase IV and the Luojing Container Port Area have been continuously optimized through digital twins and big data analytics, delivering marked gains in quay crane productivity and external truck operating efficiency.

The intelligent upgrading of conventional terminals has also yielded notable results. Technologies such as smart yards and AI-based stowage models have significantly reduced re-stowage rates and accelerated operations, vividly demonstrating “China speed” on the global stage.

The synergistic efficiency of the Port’s collection and distribution system has been fully unleashed. The “single-container” multi-modal transport model across the Yangtze River Delta has been further implemented, with sea–rail inter-modal volumes exceeding 1 million TEUs for the first time, up 16.1% year on year, forming a modern logistics network that seamlessly integrates waterways, railways, and highways. Meanwhile, the application of blockchain and other digital technologies across logistics processes has enabled real-time data sharing among multiple stakeholders, thus effectively reducing logistics costs for enterprises and allowing the efficiency dividends of smart ports to flow directly to market participants.

Green Development at the Forefront, with Tangible Progress in Low-Carbon Transition

SIPG has positioned green and low-carbon development as a defining feature of its pursuit of high-quality growth, proactively assuming responsibility for industry-wide emissions reduction. In 2025, the Port of Shanghai became the world’s first port to bunker domestically produced green methanol for international-voyage vessels, emerging as a pioneer in the global port and shipping sector’s green transition.

In tandem with the commissioning of Shanghai’s 100,000-ton green methanol project, the Port is accelerating the development of a diversified clean-energy bunkering system, steering the shipping industry toward a zero-carbon future. Coverage of green infrastructure across the Port continues to expand, shore power systems are now in regular use, and energy consumption per unit of throughput continues to decline.

Yangshan Shengdong and Guandong International Terminals were both awarded five-star “Green Port” status; the Yangshan Port Area was recognized among China’s first batch of five-star “Green Port Areas”; and Haitong RORO Terminal became the industry’s first four-star green Ro-Ro terminal. The philosophy of green development is embedded throughout port operations. By working closely with international partners to build green shipping corridors and deepen cross-regional low-carbon cooperation, SIPG is integrating the Port of Shanghai’s green practices into the global shipping decarbonization framework, achieving a virtuous balance between economic and ecological benefits.

Service Innovation Deepens, with the Business Environment Being Continuously Optimized

Adhering to a customer-first philosophy, SIPG has worked closely with port authorities and rolled out a series of innovative service initiatives. The expanded implementation of the “Four-Duals” operating model and all-tide “Triple-Berthing/Unberthing” operations has significantly reduced vessel turnaround times and improved berth utilization. Collectively, these measures have unlocked additional handling capacity equivalent to millions of TEUs, earning widespread recognition from global customers through highly efficient coordination.

By streamlining operational processes and simplifying customs clearance procedures, the Port continues to enhance service efficiency, making port services more precise, responsive, and convenient. Responding proactively to market demand, SIPG has strengthened its integrated supply chain service capabilities, offering customized logistics solutions that help clients reduce costs and improve efficiency, and further underscoring its responsibility and commitment as a world-class shipping hub.

Outlook

Looking ahead, SIPG will focus on strengthening hub resilience, unleashing innovation-driven growth, advancing green transformation, and expanding openness and collaboration. With a proactive mindset, a strong commitment to execution, and a results-oriented approach, the Group will continue striving toward new goals and chart a new chapter in the development of an international shipping center and a modern port system with Chinese characteristics.

Strengthening Core Hub Capabilities to Reinforce the Dual-Circulation Strategic Link

SIPG will accelerate major infrastructure development, optimize port layout, and enhance container-handling capacity and vessel berthing efficiency. With a strategic focus on international transshipment, it will further expand global shipping networks and scopes of cabotage operations,  and water-to-water transshipment, increasing the share of international transshipment cargo and consolidating its position as a core international transshipment hub in Northeast Asia.

Synergies across the Yangtze River Delta port cluster will be further strengthened, logistics corridors along the Yangtze River Economic Belt enhanced, and integrated “port–shipping–logistics” services advanced. By upgrading multi-modal transport systems and escalating the scale of sea–rail and water–rail inter-modal transport, the Group aims to build a broader, more efficient collection and distribution network, promoting stronger interaction between domestic and international circulation.

Deepening Digital Transformation to Build a New Smart Port Ecosystem

Digital and intelligent transformation will be cultivated as a core competitive advantage, driving technological innovation from application-driven enhancement toward ecosystem-wide development. A unified, port-wide digital twin platform will be developed to enable end-to-end visualization and intelligent management of terminal operations, vessel dispatching, and cargo traffic.

SIPG will expand full-scenario applications of technologies such as 5G, artificial intelligence, and the BeiDou Navigation Satellite System, improving both the coverage and operational efficiency of automated terminals while fostering new smart port use cases. By nurturing emerging segments of the port digital economy, deepening the use of blockchain platforms, and advancing logistics data sharing and business collaboration, the Group will develop value-added services, such as cross-border e-commerce and supply chain finance, forming an integrated “digital port + industrial services” model and positioning smart ports as a key driver of industrial upgrading.

Accelerating the Green and Low-Carbon Transition to Advance a Zero-Carbon Port Model

The Group will establish a more comprehensive clean energy supply system, expanding bunkering capacity for clean fuels such as LNG and green methanol, with the goal of building a world-leading clean energy bunkering hub. It will advance carbon reduction across the entire industrial chain by developing a carbon footprint tracking system for port and shipping activities and promoting coordinated emissions reductions across vessels, trucks, yards, and related operations, thereby continuously lowering energy consumption and carbon intensity per unit of throughput.

Green port standards will be further refined, more high-star-rated green terminals cultivated, and cooperation with international ports and shipping companies deepened. By taking the lead in developing industry-wide low-carbon standards and promoting best practices from green shipping corridors, the Group aims to guide the global port and shipping industry’s green transition and contribute port-sector solutions to the achievement of China’s “Dual Carbon” (carbon peaking and carbon neutrality) goals.

Expanding Openness and Collaboration to Serve National Strategic Priorities

With a global outlook, SIPG will enhance inter-port cooperation, expand its overseas presence, and promote the international adoption of Chinese port technologies, standards, and services. Regional development will be reinforced through deeper resource integration and business coordination within the Yangtze River Delta port cluster, as well as through advancing port–shipping integration along the Yangtze River Economic Belt, fostering complementary strengths and mutually beneficial outcomes.

To better meet customer needs, SIPG will continue to optimize the business environment and enhance integrated supply chain service capabilities by building a one-stop, comprehensive logistics service platform. By delivering end-to-end, customized solutions for businesses, the Group aims to set a new benchmark for advancing high-level opening-up.