Recently, the Information Office of the Tianjin Municipal People’s Government organized and held a themed press conference series on “High-Quality Completion of the ’14th Five-Year Plan’”. Wang Zhinan, Director of the Tianjin Municipal Transportation Commission, introduced that during the “14th Five-Year Plan” period, the infrastructure capacity level of Tianjin Port achieved a leap, now possessing 5 channels with the highest grade being 300,000-ton class. The number of berths of 10,000-ton class and above increased by 24 compared to 2020, reaching 147.
During the “14th Five-Year Plan” period, Tianjin fully leveraged the advantages and role of the port, vigorously implemented the integrated port-industry-city development action. Tianjin Port advanced from a world-class large port towards a world-class strong port, continuously promoted the promotion of industry and urban prosperity through the port, effectively supporting the domestic and international dual circulation. The number of container shipping routes at Tianjin Port increased by a net 18 compared to 2020, reaching 148. It is estimated that by 2025, the cargo throughput will be about 591 million tons, ranking 8th in China and 9th globally, with an average annual growth of 3.5% during the “14th Five-Year Plan” period; container throughput will reach 24 million TEUs, ranking 6th in China and 8th globally, with an average annual growth of 6.1%; rail-water intermodal transport will exceed 1.5 million TEUs, ranking among the top coastal ports, with an average annual growth of 14%. It was approved as the China-Europe Railway Express assembly center for the North China region, and it is estimated that the railway express transport volume will exceed 75,000 TEUs by 2025. Tianjin rose to 18th place in the Xinhua-Baltic International Shipping Centre Development Index ranking, achieving its best historical performance.
The facility capacity level of Tianjin Port also achieved a new leap during the “14th Five-Year Plan” period, with the implementation of 24 major projects: the world’s first “smart zero-carbon” terminal—the C Section Intelligent Container Terminal in the North Port Area—was completed; large-scale automation upgrades were implemented for traditional container terminals, with the automation rate of large-scale loading and unloading equipment reaching 88%; the North Branch Channel expansion was implemented; the Sinopec and Beiran LNG terminal projects were completed, enhancing the unloading capacity for goods such as coal transported from north to south, grain transported from north to south, ore, and oil and gas; supporting terminals such as the Haija Ro-Ro terminal for automobiles, the Bohua Chemical liquid chemical terminal, the Nangang ethylene externally purchased light hydrocarbon terminal, and the BOMESC offshore equipment terminal were completed; projects like the Nangang dangerous goods container yard were completed.
In terms of shipping scale, during the “14th Five-Year Plan” period, the ship capacity of Tianjin Municipality increased from 5.79 million deadweight tons at the end of 2022 to 6.962 million deadweight tons, an increase of 20.2%. The National Energy Group’s shipping sector continued to expand its operations in Tianjin, adding 324,000 deadweight tons of capacity this year.
In terms of industrial investment attraction, a number of key projects from central state-owned enterprises, state-owned enterprises, and private enterprises, such as National Energy Shipping and Yuhu Cold Chain, were established in Tianjin; the COSCO Shipping shipbuilding and repair project was officially signed. Major port-proximate industries such as green petrochemicals, marine equipment, aerospace, grain and oil processing, and new energy developed healthily. Local licensing for international ship bonded fuel oil bunkering and bonded LNG bunkering and storage businesses were implemented.
In terms of high-end shipping, Tianjin lawyers were listed for the first time on the 2025 Chambers China Maritime and Shipping Law list; in the first three quarters of this year, Tianjin’s shipping insurance achieved a premium income of 811 million yuan, a year-on-year increase of 14.03%; the number of cruise ship calls and passenger numbers steadily ranked first in Northern China and second nationally.
By All-Media Reporter Ma Rongwei
