Shanghai retains position as world's third international shipping center

Shanghai has retained its position as the world's third international shipping center by comprehensive capabilities for the sixth consecutive year, with the scoring gap to the top two, Singapore and London, further narrowing, according to the 2025 Xinhua-Baltic International Shipping Center Development Index.

According to the report, the gap between Shanghai and second-ranked London has narrowed from 0.38 point in 2021 to 0.01 point in 2025, only one step away from catching up with the British shipping center, said the report.

In this year's ranking, top 10 international shipping center cities are Singapore, London, Shanghai, Hong Kong, Dubai, Rotterdam, Ningbo-Zhoushan, Athens-Piraeus, Hamburg, and New York-New Jersey, according to the report.

Little change is seen among top-ranking cities, and major Chinese shipping centers have seen their positions rise steadily during the 14th Five-Year Plan period (2021-25). Specifically, Shanghai and Hong Kong maintained their third and fourth places among global peers, while Ningbo-Zhoushan (rising to 7th), Guangzhou (rising to 12th), Qingdao (rising two positions to 13th) and Tianjin (rising one position to 18th) all improved their rankings on the list, said the report.

"Shanghai Port became the world's first port to cross the 50 million TEUs mark in annual container throughput last year, solidifying its competitiveness as the world's busiest container port for 15 consecutive years," said Zhang Xiaohong, vice-mayor of Shanghai, during the launch ceremony of the themed activities in celebration of the National Maritime Day in Shanghai.

Shanghai's competitive edge, from first-rate port infrastructure, leading maritime legal services, shipping financial services, to strong resilience continues to close its gap on top-tier port hubs, the report added.

"Looking forward, Shanghai will stick to its high-quality development of digitalization, intelligent and green, strive to the building of itself into an international shipping hub at greater speed," Zhang said.