The Three Gorges Shipping Channel signifies a transformative era, enhancing inland waterway transport and promoting high-quality, green, and intelligent navigation in China.

The Yantai-Djibouti general cargo line has opened, establishing a cost-effective supply chain for international trade and advancing China's Belt and Road Initiative.

A nighttime drone rescue drill in the lower Yangtze River explored the integration of modern technology with traditional rescue practices, improving nighttime waterway safety.

Maoming Maritime Safety Administration and Maoming Port Group officially signed a contract to start the construction project of the port general dispatching center, aiming to promote the intelligent and integrated operation and management of the port through the coordination of government and enterprises. The project integrates the resources of the three major port areas of Shuidong, Bohe and Jeddah, establishes an integrated mechanism of 'supervision-dispatching-service', and creates an intelligent platform of 'one-network dispatching and full-process controllable' to improve the efficiency of channel traffic and the core competitiveness of the port. Implement 24-hour joint duty, ensure all-weather efficient operation, and fully implement the strategic deployment of transportation power.

On April 29, the China Multimodal Transport Development Alliance was established in Beijing, led by the State Railway Group, and jointly initiated by five central enterprises including COSCO Shipping, China Merchants, China Logistics, and China Digital Logistics. The alliance aims to solve the difficulties of multimodal transport development, promote high-quality development, help logistics to reduce costs and increase efficiency, and build a "three platforms, one hotline" operation support system.

The 10th China Maritime Finance (Dongjiang) International Forum opened in Tianjin Binhai New Area. During this period, a special support policy for shipping talents was issued for the first time. A full-career-cycle talent development system of "both introduction and education and service empowerment" was launched for the shipping field. A maximum of 1.5 million yuan was given to leading talents. A full-chain service system covering children's education, medical care and housing was established, and a series of talent activities in 2026 were launched simultaneously, expand marine technology and other four major tracks.

As of April 22, the size of the first ship ETF in China has reached 1.6 billion yuan. The fund focuses deeply on the core assets of the shipbuilding industry, with CSSC's listed companies accounting for more than 50% of the weight. It adopts the "central enterprise-fund" linkage model to provide investors with transparent, efficient and low-threshold participation channels.

Zhengzhou Commodity Exchange and Baltic Exchange signed a BPI index authorization agreement, laying the foundation for China to launch the first dry bulk international shipping index futures. The futures product will provide global shipping and trading companies with an open and transparent freight risk management tool, help to leverage China's market advantages as the world's largest dry bulk importer and shipping country, and enhance the ability of the futures market to serve the real economy.

In the first quarter of 2024, China's transportation economy was generally stable and started well. The main indicators such as commercial freight volume and port cargo throughput have maintained rapid growth, cross-regional personnel flow continues to be strong, and the scale of investment in transportation fixed assets remains high. Specific data show that freight volume increased by 4.1 compared with the same period last year, port cargo throughput increased by 4.0, container throughput increased by 8.0, cross-regional personnel flow increased by 2.2, and investment in transportation fixed assets reached 651.9 billion billion yuan, providing strong support for the steady economic recovery.

In the first quarter of this year, the export of domestic new energy vehicles at Shanghai port achieved strong growth. As the country's largest automobile export port, Shanghai relies on the two-wheel drive of Waigaoqiao Port Area and Nangang Terminal, and superimposes customs facilitation measures to promote domestic new energy vehicles to accelerate to the world. Data show that the export of automobiles in the Waigaoqiao Port Area increased by 15.9 year-on-year, and new energy vehicles accounted for 68.5; the export of foreign trade vehicles at the Nangang Terminal surged by 111 year-on-year, and the export of new energy vehicles increased by 176, becoming an emerging growth pole.

In the first quarter of 2026, China's national economy achieved a good start. According to preliminary calculations, the GDP increased by 5.0 year-on-year, and the growth rate was 0.5 percentage points faster than the fourth quarter of the previous year. The situation of agricultural production is relatively good, the growth of industrial production is accelerating, the equipment manufacturing industry and high-tech manufacturing industry are growing rapidly, the service industry is growing well, market sales are accelerating, investment in fixed assets is growing steadily, imports and exports are growing rapidly, consumer prices are moderately rising, the employment situation is generally stable, and residents' income continues to grow. High-quality development to the new direction, development resilience and vitality further demonstrated.

On April 17, CSSC 725 successfully developed and released the world's largest marine wind turbine booster system. The system is 5 meters in diameter, 35 meters high and weighs 150 tons. It can efficiently capture wind energy to provide additional thrust for ships, saving on average 5%-25% of fuel consumption and significantly reducing carbon emissions for large ocean-going ships. This indicates that my country has achieved a major leap from following to leading in the field of high-end ship environmental protection equipment. At present, it has passed land-based tests and laid the foundation for mass production.

The National Railway Administration released the national railway transportation data for the first quarter of 2026. In terms of passenger transport, the number of passengers sent reached 1.133 billion, an increase of 5.5 per cent over the same period last year; in terms of freight transport, the number of freight sent exceeded 1.281 billion tons, an increase of 2.2 per cent over the same period last year, of which coal, container and grain transport all increased. In addition, investment in railway fixed assets reached 137.9 billion billion yuan, an increase of 5.1 percent over the same period last year, indicating that railway construction is progressing steadily and providing support for high-quality economic and social development.

2024年4月15日，国内首艘万吨级纯电动智能集装箱船“宁远电鲲”轮从宁波舟山港首航，标志着我国沿海集装箱运输进入纯电驱动与智能领航的新阶段。该船采用箱式电池动力，实现航行零排放，每年可减排超1400吨二氧化碳。同时，船舶集成智能航行系统，具备自主规划、自动避碰等先进功能，是我国绿色智能航运的重要里程碑。

On April 14, the Maritime Safety Administration of the Ministry of Transport held a centralized office meeting in Foshan, Guangdong Province to exchange experience in the implementation of "zero discharge" of water pollutants from inland vessels. The purpose of the meeting is to promote the quality and efficiency of pollution prevention and control of inland vessels, accelerate the green and low-carbon transformation of shipping, and extend the mature "zero emission" governance experience of the Yangtze River to the Pearl River, Heilongjiang and other water systems, so as to realize the integrated promotion of water pollution prevention and control of inland vessels nationwide. Participants shared the practical experience of the Yangtze River Basin, and conducted in-depth discussions on the current regulatory status, existing problems and next plans. The meeting fully affirmed Foshan's innovative practices in intelligent receiving equipment and "sea inspection linkage" mechanism, and emphasized that the promotion of "zero emissions" is of great significance to ensuring the safety of water supply in the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area and the ecological safety of the rive