On the morning of November 12, Zhejiang Province held a press conference on the first anniversary of the construction of the bulk commodity resource allocation hub in the China (Zhejiang) Pilot Free Trade Zone. It was disclosed at the conference that as the core bearing area of the hub construction, the Ningbo Area, driven by institutional innovation, following the path of full-chain upgrading, and supported by digital empowerment, has achieved breakthroughs at multiple points and advanced in depth over the past year. The hub function has been continuously enhanced, injecting strong momentum into the high-quality development of the Zhejiang Pilot Free Trade Zone.
Institutional Innovation Breaks Through Openness Bottlenecks
“Over the past year, we have focused on the core pain points of bulk commodity trade, breaking development bottlenecks through pioneering reforms, and accelerating the release of institutional dividends,” said a relevant responsible person from the Ningbo Area. After the hub construction started in November 2024, Ningbo rapidly launched the province’s first digital integrated service platform for offshore trade. This platform addresses the challenge of authenticity verification through functions like cross-verification of multi-party data and credit support. In the first three quarters of 2025, the scale of offshore trade increased by 33.7% year-on-year, and 16 enterprises enjoyed stamp duty benefits. An innovative ownership confirmation mechanism for the layered utilization of underground caverns was introduced, with CNOOC’s underground cavern receiving the nation’s first real estate ownership certificate for an underground cavern, revitalizing underground space equivalent to 1,700 mu of surface storage land.
Full-Chain Upgrading Strengthens the Hub Foundation
Focusing on the synergy of the entire “storage, transportation, trade, processing, and service” chain, the Ningbo Area has continuously strengthened hardware support and enhanced industrial capacity. For instance, on the storage and transportation end, as of the end of October 2025, the annual bonded LNG (liquefied natural gas) bunkering volume at Ningbo’s “Green Energy Port” exceeded 200,000 cubic meters, steadily ranking among the top three in the country. Since its commissioning, the nation’s first set of domestically produced LNG cold energy power generation equipment has cumulatively generated over 18 million kilowatt-hours of electricity, reducing carbon dioxide emissions by more than 10,000 tons. After the Meishan International Cold Chain Project commenced operations at the end of September 2024, its throughput quickly surpassed 100,000 tons, making it the largest and most modern cold chain hub in East China.
On the processing end, the commissioning of the Daxie Petrochemical ten-million-ton级 refining and chemical integration project in 2025 boosted Ningbo’s annual oil refining capacity to 50 million tons, forming three complete industrial chains for oil products, olefins, and aromatics.
On the trade end, the Ningbo Area deepened cooperation with multiple global giants, covering seven major categories of core commodities including metals, chemical products, and pulp, and connecting 325 trading partners across 33 countries and regions… Full-chain efforts are helping Ningbo deeply embed itself into the global bulk commodity supply chain network.
Digital Empowerment Activates Market Vitality
Driving an efficiency revolution through digital transformation, the Ningbo Area has built a diverse and collaborative digital ecosystem for bulk commodities. In July 2025, 66 Yunlian, in collaboration with Kunlun Trust, launched the nation’s first “blockchain + digital warehouse receipt” trust project, with a cumulative scale reaching 90 million yuan, providing a traceable and verifiable “digital ID” for liquid bulk commodities.
Currently, the Ningbo Area has cultivated over 10 digital platforms and innovatively launched service models such as the “Smart Customs Declaration Hall” and “Intelligent Station.” The inspection and release time for inbound packages is only 0.2 seconds, iron ore customs clearance efficiency has improved by 65%, and the time for picking up inbound grain has been reduced from 20 days to 3-5 days. The coverage rates of “online processing” and “mobile processing” continue to increase, and full-process digital supervision has taken trade facilitation to a new level.
Open Cooperation Expands Global Reach
Leveraging the core location advantage of the Ningbo-Zhoushan Port, the Ningbo Area continues to densify its global trade network and enhance its international voice. It has built Asia’s largest 2 million cubic meter propane underground cavern, opened green shipping routes for “bagged bulk” transport of new energy materials like nickel hydroxide, optimized the water-to-water transfer mode for iron ore, and significantly improved resource allocation efficiency.
A diversified green fuel bunkering system has been established, successively launching new energy bunkering businesses including LNG, biofuels, and green methanol. The Ningbo-Zhoushan International Shipping Center’s ranking has risen to seventh globally. The Hong Kong International Mediation Center Ningbo Sub-Center was established, and high-version integrated cross-border capital pool businesses for multinational companies in both domestic and foreign currencies were implemented, providing legal safeguards and financial support for enterprises’ cross-border operations.
Moving forward, the Ningbo Area will anchor its goal of building an internationally influential bulk commodity resource allocation hub, steadily advance major projects such as the third phase of Zhejiang LNG and the sixth phase of Daxie Petrochemical, continuously deepen institutional innovations in offshore trade and futures-spot integration, improve the digital empowerment system, enhance global resource allocation capabilities, and make greater contributions to Zhejiang’s construction of a modern, high-level pilot free trade zone and to serving the national opening-up strategy.
