The opening ceremony of the 2025 North Bund International Shipping Forum and the International Green Shipping Main Forum was held on the morning of October 19 at the World Meeting Room located in the North Bund, Shanghai. Chen Jining, Secretary of the Shanghai Municipal Committee of the Communist Party of China, attended and delivered a speech. Liu Wei, Party Secretary and Minister of the Ministry of Transport, and Gong Zheng, Deputy Secretary of the Shanghai Municipal Committee and Mayor of Shanghai, delivered keynote speeches.
Focus on strengthening functions, optimizing services, and expanding networks, accelerate the construction of a world-class shipping hub, continuously enhance the level of high-end shipping services, accelerate the intelligent and green transformation of shipping, and jointly build an open, cooperative, and healthy development ecosystem for the shipping industry.
In his speech, Chen Jining stated that Shanghai will thoroughly study and implement the important instructions of President Xi Jinping, be guided by the national strategy, led by technological innovation, give full play to the advantages of synergistic linkage among the “Five Centers”, focus on strengthening functions, optimizing services, and expanding networks, accelerate the construction of a world-class shipping hub, continuously enhance the level of high-end shipping services, accelerate the intelligent and green transformation of shipping, jointly build an open, cooperative, and healthy development ecosystem for the shipping industry, and make new contributions to the construction of a strong transportation country and a strong maritime country with new achievements in the construction of an international shipping center. Improve the modern shipping infrastructure system, work with the Yangtze River Delta to build a clustered air and sea port network, deepen shipping cooperation in the Yangtze River Basin, and focus on reducing comprehensive logistics costs. Focusing on the high-quality joint construction of the “Belt and Road”, increase the frequency of high-quality international direct flights, improve the accessibility and delivery capacity of the air cargo network, and better support cross-border personnel flow and international economic and trade exchanges. Focusing on the internationalization and rule of law in shipping services, accelerate the construction of the shipping insurance standard system and product development, deepen the innovation of maritime arbitration systems and rules, and build a highland for international maritime dispute resolution services. Strengthen the shipping factor trading market, enhance professional shipping service capabilities, and promote the high-end and clustered development of the shipping industry. Create upgraded versions of smart ports, smart waterways, and smart airports, comprehensively enhance the intelligence level of shipping hubs, vigorously build green and low-carbon supply chains, and promote the formation of a new pattern of green shipping development. Promote international exchanges and standard alignment and mutual recognition in various shipping fields, expand the international “circle of friends” for green shipping corridors, enhance the supply capacity of compound and innovative shipping talents, support the development of more international shipping organizations and functional institutions in Shanghai, and actively integrate into the global shipping governance system. We welcome all guests to focus on the forum’s theme, share valuable insights, and provide valuable opinions and suggestions for the construction of Shanghai’s international shipping center, contributing wisdom and strength to promoting the healthy development of the global shipping industry and enhancing the resilience and vitality of the world economy.
Focus on the goals of building a strong transportation country and a strong maritime country, accelerate the green and digital-intelligent transformation of the shipping industry, and continuously provide new opportunities for the prosperous development of the global economy and trade.
In his keynote speech, Liu Wei pointed out that the Chinese government attaches great importance to the sustainable development of transportation. In recent years, the Ministry of Transport has thoroughly implemented President Xi Jinping’s important instructions on building a sustainable transportation system and accelerated the promotion of sustainable development in the shipping industry. It is necessary to focus on the goals of building a strong transportation country and a strong maritime country, accelerate the green and digital-intelligent transformation of the shipping industry, and continuously provide new opportunities for the prosperous development of the global economy and trade.
Liu Wei pointed out that in April 2025, the Office of the United States Trade Representative announced the final measures of the Section 301 investigation into China’s maritime, logistics, and shipbuilding sectors. Starting from October 14, additional port service fees were imposed on vessels owned or operated by Chinese companies, vessels built in China, and Chinese-flagged vessels. The US actions disregard the facts, seriously harm the legitimate interests of China’s maritime industry, severely disrupt the stability of the global supply chain, and seriously undermine the international economic and trade order. In accordance with the “International Maritime Transportation Regulations of the People’s Republic of China,” the Ministry of Transport issued the “Announcement on Collecting Special Port Dues on US Vessels,” deciding to collect special port dues on US vessels. This is a legitimate measure to safeguard the lawful rights and interests of Chinese shipping enterprises. At the same time, in accordance with relevant laws and regulations, China is initiating an investigation into the impact on the security and development interests of the shipping industry, shipbuilding industry, and related industrial and supply chains. Global shipping industry colleagues should join hands to promote the construction of a fair, just, and open shipping market and safeguard the common interests of global economic and trade development.
Unswervingly manage our own affairs well, unswervingly expand high-level opening up, and make due contributions to global sustainable shipping development.
When delivering his keynote speech, Gong Zheng said that currently, we are acting in accordance with President Xi Jinping’s strategic positioning for Shanghai’s development, deepening the construction of the “Five Centers,” and accelerating the building of a socialist modern international metropolis with global influence. The construction of an international shipping center is an important part of the “Five Centers” construction. Shanghai will firmly grasp the development laws, stage characteristics, and trend changes in the construction of the international shipping center, unswervingly manage our own affairs well, unswervingly expand high-level opening up, and make due contributions to global sustainable shipping development. Focusing on consolidating shipping infrastructure, continuously improve the sea port, air port, cruise port, and shipping collection and distribution system to build a highland for shipping hub gateways. Focusing on enhancing the energy level of shipping services, continuously improve the underwriting capacity and global service level of shipping insurance to build a highland for the agglomeration of shipping resource elements. Focusing on promoting the green and low-carbon transformation of shipping, accelerate the construction of a global green shipping fuel bunkering center and trading center, and build green shipping corridors with more international port cities to build a highland for green shipping development. Focusing on the digital-intelligent transformation of shipping, build a highland for shipping technology innovation, and promote a comprehensive leap in the energy level of the Shanghai International Shipping Center.
Mohammad Sahawat Hossain, Minister of the Ministry of Shipping and Minister of the Ministry of Labour and Employment of the Caretaker Government of Bangladesh, and Neto Zarzar Lighe, Commissioner of the Liberia Maritime Authority, attended and delivered keynote speeches. Vassilis Kikilias, Minister of Maritime Affairs and Insular Policy of Greece, and Óscar Puente Santiago, Minister of Transport and Sustainable Mobility of Spain, delivered video speeches.
The International Green Shipping Corridor Cooperation Initiative was released at the forum. A batch of inter-governmental cooperation documents, achievements in green shipping corridor construction, achievements in international shipping hub construction, innovation achievements in high-end shipping services, and achievements in international shipping cooperation and development were collectively released.
Fu Xuyin, Vice Minister of Transport; Han Jun, Vice Minister of the Civil Aviation Administration of China; Shanghai leaders Hua Yuan and Zhang Xiaohong; Ren Deqi, Chairman of Bank of Communications; Wan Min, Chairman of COSCO Shipping Group; Wang Zhiqing, Chairman of China Eastern Air Holding Company, and Gao Fei, General Manager; Fan Yunjun, General Manager of China Travel Service Group; Ding Kuiling, President of Shanghai Jiao Tong University; responsible officials from relevant national ministries and commissions and municipal units, as well as representatives from domestic and international shipping institutions, enterprises, industry associations, and experts and scholars attended the opening event.
The 2025 North Bund International Shipping Forum, with the theme “Collaborating to Promote Sustainable Development of Global Shipping,” is held in Shanghai from October 19 to 21. It includes the opening ceremony and the International Green Shipping Main Forum, the International Maritime Forum, the International Aviation Forum, and four sub-forums focusing on shipping-related intelligence, maritime traffic safety, law, and finance and insurance. Chinese and foreign guests will engage in dialogue and exchanges around the forum’s theme and industry hotspots, gain insights into shipping industry development trends, promote international exchanges and cooperation, and drive the healthy and sustainable development of the industry.
