Xiamen has been selected as a pilot city for the national cross-border trade facilitation special action for five consecutive years, demonstrating its continued leading position in optimizing the port business environment. The article points out that through the integrated reform and innovation of the pilot free trade zone, Xiamen has jointly promoted 258 facilitation tasks with customs, commerce and other departments, built a national leading digital port platform and a "single window" for international trade, and significantly reduced the cost of enterprises. These measures have helped Xiamen's foreign trade scale continue to rise. In 2025, the total value of imports and exports hit a record high, and promoted Xiamen to move from a "big foreign trade city" to a "strong foreign trade city.

The Secretary-General of the International Maritime Organization Dominguez pointed out that naval escort is not a sustainable solution to the crisis in the Strait of Hormuz, and real security depends on the end of the conflict. The Council of the organization recommended emergency temporary measures such as the establishment of a maritime safety corridor to evacuate merchant ships in a peaceful manner. Statistics show that recent attacks in the region have caused casualties to seafarers, with about 20,000 seafarers still stranded in the Persian Gulf.

In February 2026, the container throughput of the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach on the west coast of the United States remained stable, reaching 824000 TEU and 768000 TEU respectively, with a slight year-on-year increase. However, port executives noted that global events such as conflicts in the Middle East and changes in U.S. tariff policy are creating significant uncertainty in the supply chain. Although the flow of goods is currently not directly disturbed, higher oil prices and potential route adjustments may push up transportation costs and affect global trade. The two major ports emphasize their stability as strategic hubs while keeping a close eye on external risks.

On March 18, 2026, the shipping trade digital intelligence conference with the theme of "smart navigation trade, digital creation of the future" was held in Shanghai. The conference was co-sponsored by industry authorities and brought together more than 500 representatives from around the world to discuss the path of digital transformation of shipping trade. The meeting focused on standard building, collaborative innovation, data security and ecological co-construction, and released important cooperation results such as promoting the application of electronic bills of lading, aiming to inject digital momentum into the high-quality development of global trade.

This report analyzes the capacity status of inter-provincial freight vessels along the coast of China in 2025. According to the report, the total capacity of dry bulk carriers decreased slightly by 0.3 per cent, the capacity of container ships increased by 3.0 per cent, and the capacity of oil vessels in liquid dangerous goods vessels decreased while the capacity of chemical and liquefied gas vessels increased. The average age of various types of ships generally does not change much, but the composition of old and special inspection ships varies among different ship types, reflecting the dynamics of market capacity structure adjustment and fleet renewal.

Guangzhou port Nansha grain general terminal loading and unloading system of the whole process automation upgrade project recently high-quality through the traffic power special pilot acceptance. As the only selected pilot in Guangdong Province, the project has realized the intelligent operation of the whole process from single-machine automation to multi-machine cooperation in bulk grain terminals through the transformation of localization automation. The production efficiency has been increased by 20%, and the labor cost has been reduced by about 79%, thus forming the "Guangzhou Experience" of port intelligent transformation that can be replicated and promoted ".

During the Spring Festival transportation in 2026, the waterway passenger traffic volume of the Hunan section of the Yangtze River trunk line increased significantly, with 96000 passengers sent, an increase of 11.6 percent over the same period last year, and more than 39000 vehicles ferrying, an increase of 19.8 percent. The Yueyang Maritime Safety Administration has effectively responded to the peak of passenger flow by strengthening safety supervision, using information technology to ensure navigation, and carrying out voluntary services, ensuring the safety, order, convenience and smooth flow of water travel during the Spring Festival travel period, reflecting the role of water transportation in regional economic and social development. Important role.

From March 15 to 16, 2024, Chinese Vice Premier He Lifeng, the leader of the Sino-US economic and trade consultations, held talks with US Treasury Secretary Besente and Trade Representative Greer in Paris, France. The two sides conducted candid and in-depth exchanges on issues such as tariff arrangements, promotion of bilateral trade and investment, and maintenance of existing consensus, reached some new consensus, and agreed to continue consultations. China reiterated its opposition to unilateral tariffs by the United States, urged it to remove restrictive measures, and called on both sides to meet each other in the opposite direction to promote the healthy and stable development of Sino-US economic and trade relations.

The international standard "Application Cases of Green Logistics Activities" (ISO TR 25326:2026), which is led by China, was officially released, including 83 green logistics practice cases from 28 enterprises in 15 countries, 26 of which are from China. The standard focuses on transportation, warehousing, packaging and other logistics links, and provides case analysis and standardization suggestions from the five dimensions of resource intensive, low carbon emissions, recycling, environmental protection and occupational health, aiming to provide practical reference and promotion for the green transformation of the global logistics industry.

On March 13, the Ministry of Transport held a ministerial meeting to thoroughly study and implement the spirit of General Secretary Xi Jinping's important instructions on production safety, summarize the production safety situation in February, and deploy the safety guarantee work for the summer risk investigation and resumption of work during the flood season. The meeting deliberated and passed a number of important programs such as the Action Plan for Implementing Multimodal Transport to Overhaul Points and Cards (2026-2030), the Implementation Plan for Improving Intercity commuting Efficiency in Metropolitan Area (2026-2030), the Implementation Plan for Accelerating the Construction of Comprehensive Transportation System in Modern Capital Metropolitan Area (2026-2030), and the Action Plan for Improving Quality and Efficiency of Transportation Audit Supervision (2026-2028), the aim is to improve the level of transportation safety, optimize the logistics network, improve the commuting experience in the metropolitan area and strengthen the effectiveness of audit supervision.

The "Hainan Province Comprehensive Three-dimensional Transportation Network Planning Outline" proposes that by 2035, Hainan will be fully integrated into China's "Global 123 Express Logistics Circle", achieving the goal of 1 day in China, 2 days in neighboring countries, and 3 days in major cities around the world. To this end, Hainan will build an international shipping hub, an international aviation hub and a sea and land gateway hub, optimize the Qiongzhou Strait transport channel, and promote multimodal transport innovation and logistics cost reduction, with a modern high-quality comprehensive three-dimensional transportation network to support the construction of the free trade port.

On March 11, the sixth 9000-car transport ship "Grande Seoul" built by Shanghai Waigaoqiao Shipbuilding Co., Ltd. for Italian GRIMALDI Company was successfully delivered. The ship is naturalized by the Italian Classification Society, with a total length of nearly 200 meters and a design speed of 19 knots. It adopts a main engine that meets international environmental protection standards. This delivery marks the continuous progress of Waigaoqiao Shipbuilding in the field of high-end automobile carrier ship construction, and further strengthens its position in the international ship market.

On March 12, 2026, the Fourth Session of the Fourteenth National People's Congress concluded successfully in the Great Hall of the People in Beijing. The meeting reviewed and approved important documents such as the government work report, the outline of the 15th Five-Year Plan for National Economic and Social Development, and the work report of the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress. The conference voted and passed many important laws such as the Ecological Environment Code, the National Unity and Progress Promotion Law, and the National Development Planning Law. President Xi Jinping signed relevant presidential orders. The meeting summarized the achievements of the "14th Five-Year Plan", deployed the goals and tasks of the "15th Five-Year Plan" period and the work in 2026, and emphasized the need to fully implement Xi Jinping's new era of socialism with Chinese characteristics, promote high-quality development, and basically realize socialist modernization. Lay a solid foundation.

Although the International Energy Agency coordinated the release of the largest strategic oil reserve in history by 32 member countries to deal with the supply shortage caused by the situation in the Middle East, the market reacted cautiously. Investors are more concerned about the risk of shipping interruption in the Strait of Hormuz and the progress of the US-Israeli-Iraq war, which has caused international oil prices to rise instead of falling, and Brent crude oil futures prices have returned to above $100 per barrel. The analysis believes that the release of reserves can only relieve pressure in the short term and cannot fully fill the supply gap. If the conflict continues, oil prices will continue to rise.

The article focuses on the development of China's water transport during the "Tenth Five-Year Plan" period, focusing on the strategic layout of cultivating new quality productivity and supporting regional development through the quality and expansion of major port and shipping projects. The content covers the waterway fixed asset investment and key projects in Zhejiang, Jiangsu, Guangxi and other provinces, such as the Pinglu Canal, the construction of automated terminals, etc.; at the same time, it analyzes the trend of port automation transformation and upgrading, as well as the Han-Xianggui Canal, Zhejiang-Jiangxi-Guangdong Canal and other cross-regional water transport channels. The key role of the channel in promoting regional linkage development.