Shanghai, Nov. 12 (Zhongxin Net) (By Fan Zhonghua) At the confluence of the Huangpu River and Suzhou Creek in Shanghai’s “golden hinterland,” the shipping and finance industries have been rapidly rising over the past five years, becoming a strong growth pole in Shanghai’s construction of the “Five Centers.”
At the series of press conferences on the achievements of Shanghai’s “14th Five-Year Plan” held on the 12th, Li Qian, Secretary of the Hongkou District Committee, introduced that since the “14th Five-Year Plan,” guided by the development and construction of the North Bund, Hongkou District’s regional GDP has achieved an average annual growth of 4.8%; the two pillar industries of shipping and finance have transformed towards the high-end, contributing over 40% to the regional economy; the number of foreign investment source countries has quadrupled, headquarters enterprises have reached 112, a five-fold increase, and the regional economy has achieved a breakthrough in scale.
The North Bund in Shanghai’s Hongkou District, together with Lujiazui and the Bund, forms the “Golden Triangle” along the Huangpu River. Photo provided by the Publicity Department of the Hongkou District Committee.
Hongkou District derived its name and prosperity from its port and is the birthplace of Shanghai’s and China’s modern shipping industry. Over the past five years, the shipping industry here has formed a distinctive “6789” phenomenon: the shipping economy scale accounts for about 60% of the city’s total, ship capacity accounts for nearly 70%, water transport turnover accounts for about 80%, and over 90% of Shanghai’s maritime customs clearance is completed at the North Bund in Hongkou District.
Beyond these numbers, what truly makes Hongkou District the “ballast stone” of Shanghai’s shipping landscape is its role as a leader in promoting the deep integration of China’s shipping industry with international standards through multiple breakthroughs and innovations. Chen Shuai, Deputy District Mayor of Hongkou, introduced that over the past five years, Hongkou District has pioneered more than ten “national firsts,” such as the country’s first shipping index futures and the first case of foreign-related maritime ad hoc arbitration. It has promoted green shipping projects like the trial voyage of the world’s first pure battery-powered container ship, deeply participated in the formulation of international standards for electronic bills of lading for maritime transport, and held the North Bund International Shipping Forum for five consecutive years, attracting high-level institutions such as the International Chamber of Shipping and the National Seafarer Assessment Center. The economic contribution of the shipping industry has increased by over three times compared to the “13th Five-Year Plan” period, accounting for over 23% of the district’s economy.
Building a financial asset management “highland” is the focus of Hongkou District’s efforts to construct the North Bund as an important vertex of the “Golden Triangle” along the Huangpu River. Data shows that over the past five years, the added value of Hongkou’s financial industry has increased by over 50%, ranking first in Shanghai in the first half of 2025. A number of foreign financial institutions have been successfully introduced, and the district has gathered over 2,100 various financial enterprises. This includes nearly 1/8 of the country’s public fund management companies, nearly 1/6 of futures risk management subsidiaries, and nearly 1/4 of billion-level quantitative private equity institutions, forming a significant industry clustering effect.
Simultaneously, a large number of financial service institutions have established a presence here, and a sound financial ecosystem is gradually taking shape. Chen Shuai introduced that Hongkou District has established two major specialized platforms: the Shanghai Hedge Fund Park and the Shanghai FinTech Park, attracting dozens of key fintech companies to settle; high-level financial institutions such as the China Capital Market Association and the Shanghai Asset Management Association have also gathered here; the city’s first district-level financial security service station was established. Currently, Hongkou District has formed a comprehensive and professional policy service system and built an effective financial risk control system.
“Over the past five years, through reform, opening up, and innovation, we have attracted a large concentration of factors and led the cultivation of a number of high-end industries,” Li Qian said. First, numerous “breakthroughs from zero” have been achieved in multiple fields; second, industries have become more clustered; third, regional vitality has increased. “In these five years, Hongkou has carefully nurtured a ‘nursery’ into ‘saplings.’ In the future, we not only want the ‘saplings’ to grow into ‘towering trees,’ but also want different ‘trees’ to coexist harmoniously, forming a lush and ever-renewing ‘rainforest ecology.’”
Li Qian stated that in the next “five years,” Hongkou District will gather more resources and factors, innovate integration and connectivity mechanisms, promote innovative cross-border integration development in various fields such as shipping, finance, and technology, use points to drive areas, form an overall transformation and upgrade, and achieve a leap in “district-wide” function and value. (End)
