With more than 18,000 kilometres of coastline and 123,000 kilometres of inland waterways, China’s unique natural conditions have laid a good foundation for the development of the shipping industry. The booming economy, especially the continuous, rapid and stable development of the national economy over the past 20 years since the implementation of reform and opening up, has provided a rare opportunity and impetus for the rise and development of China’s shipping industry.
Marine transportation, also known as “international marine cargo transportation”, is the most important mode of transportation in international logistics. As international trade becomes more and more prosperous, the process of globalization is further accelerated, and in the current global integration, all industries such as bulk commodities, consumer electronics, garments, etc. are deeply dependent on marine transportation, and marine transportation has also become the mainstream way of trade between various countries/regions, 19% of the world’s bulk sea cargo is currently shipped to China, and 20% of container transportation comes from China; and the new Of the new volume of maritime cargo transported, 60-70% is destined for China. China is the world’s largest port in terms of cargo and container throughput, with three of the top five ports in the world in terms of container throughput. As China’s economic influence continues to expand, the world’s shipping centre is gradually shifting from the West to the East, and China sea freight industry has entered the forefront of the world’s maritime competition. It is reported that China’s ocean shipping fleet has now entered the top ocean freight forwarders in the world.
The shipping industry has always been regarded as an important pillar industry for a country, and governments attach great importance to the nationalisation attributes of shipping enterprises. Cargo volume growth is slowing down and the overcapacity situation has not been fundamentally improved while cargo volume growth is being tested.
Market concentration is increasing, with mergers and acquisitions and alliances continuing and dominating market share. Changes in the internal and external environment have also led to changes in the liner industry, while a number of new trends have emerged. In recent years, the pace of consolidation in the global container shipping industry has accelerated, with mergers and acquisitions of liner companies and several restructuring of shipping alliances. At present, three alliances dominate the container shipping market and occupy the majority share on the three major east-west trunk routes. The outlook for China sea shipping industry is good and it is expected that by 2030 China will continue to secure its position as the world’s number one cargo trading nation and will dominate the global container maritime trade.