Ningbo-Zhoushan Port: Strengthening Maritime Logistics Corridors to Support National Development Goals

　　Data shows that from January to March 2026, the cargo and container throughput of Ningbo Zhoushan Port increased by over 9% and 14%, respectively. The total number of shipping routes exceeded 300, covering more than 700 ports in over 200 countries and regions worldwide. In recent years, the Zhejiang Provincial Department of Marine Economy Development has guided the Zhejiang Seaport Group to focus on the efficient shipment needs of foreign trade enterprises for key goods such as the "new three items" and cross-border e-commerce. By optimizing route layouts, enhancing service capabilities, and creating exemplary benchmarks, they have continuously built a globally leading maritime express line system. Since 2022 and up to the end of March 2026, Ningbo Zhoushan Port has launched 26 maritime express lines and achieved normalized operations, providing strong support for ensuring the smooth operation of national industrial and supply chains and contributing to the new development pattern. It has also injected strong momentum into fostering new drivers of foreign trade and expanding new business models such as cross-border e-commerce.

　　Grasping Market Trends to Precisely Build a Maritime Express Line Supply System

　　Rewinding to December 30, 2024, the "Jiahua Ningbo" vessel slowly departed from the Chuanshan Port area, marking the maiden voyage of the then "fastest route" from the Yangtze River Delta to Europe. With a transit time of 26 days, it was approximately 12 days shorter than traditional routes, bypassing any transit ports and achieving "point-to-point" direct delivery.

　　In recent years, Ningbo Zhoushan Port has closely aligned with major national strategic deployments, focusing on the core needs of the foreign trade market to build a maritime express line system that is well-structured, highly efficient, and competitively strong. Represented by Zhejiang Province, the Yangtze River Delta region has seen sustained high-speed growth in exports of the "new three items" and cross-border e-commerce products, with year-on-year increases of 75% and 100%, respectively. Addressing the high-value, time-sensitive transportation characteristics of such goods and the inefficiencies of traditional routes with multiple stops, Ningbo Zhoushan Port has collaborated with key shipping companies to optimize and launch maritime express lines. By streamlining port stops and reducing sailing distances, they have achieved precise alignment between route supply and market demand.

　　Data shows that by the end of 2025, Zhejiang Province's export value of the "new three items" had increased by over 110 billion yuan compared to 2022, a growth rate exceeding 100%. Cross-border e-commerce export value increased by nearly 100 billion yuan, with a growth rate of 78.4%. Behind these achievements lies the strong support of the maritime express line system.

　　Today, 26 maritime express lines fully connect core global foreign trade regions such as Eurasia, ASEAN, and North America. They deeply integrate with the vast hinterlands of Eurasia, achieving efficient domestic and international "dual circulation" and seamless connectivity. This ensures the efficient distribution and rapid global delivery of various cross-border goods to major ports, with the port connectivity index consistently ranking second globally.

　　Notably, leveraging Ningbo Zhoushan Port's status as the world's largest port by cargo throughput and its hub port influence, the maritime express lines have formed a multi-dimensional capacity structure of "main routes ensuring supply and specialized routes enhancing efficiency." Additionally, through centralized scheduling and a cabin-sharing mechanism, ship load rates and turnover efficiency have significantly improved, achieving precise capacity allocation and efficient matching with peak cargo flow seasons and foreign trade shipment schedules.

　　Focusing on Customer Needs to Continuously Enhance Maritime Express Line Service Capabilities

　　The core competitiveness of a port lies not only in the number of routes but also in its service capabilities. Ningbo Zhoushan Port, guided by the goal of improving service quality and efficiency, has comprehensively promoted the simultaneous enhancement of maritime express line service capabilities and overall competitiveness.

　　Ningbo Zhoushan Port has continuously deepened port supervision measures. In collaboration with port authorities, it has improved five mechanisms, including boarding procedures and data sharing, and implemented ten initiatives such as remote intelligent inspections and precise ship scheduling. The non-operational time of international container ships at Ningbo Zhoushan Port has been reduced from 140 minutes to 85 minutes, increasing annual handling capacity by approximately 1 million TEUs, equivalent to adding a 200,000-ton container berth.

　　The "Punctual Container Shipping Cost Reduction" plan has brought significant benefits to shipping companies. Under the unified deployment of the Ministry of Transport's Maritime Safety Administration, the Zhejiang Maritime Safety Administration and Ningbo Zhoushan Port jointly innovated to establish a nationwide coastal container full-chain transportation organization model. This model guides container liners to cruise at economic speeds, make port appointments, and arrive punctually. By the end of March 2026, this plan had been fully implemented across Zhejiang's coastal ports. Statistics show that it has saved ships over 25,000 hours of waiting time and reduced costs for shipping companies by over 867 million yuan. This innovative initiative has received full recognition from the International Maritime Organization (IMO).

　　Meanwhile, Ningbo Zhoushan Port has continuously optimized maritime express line operational processes. The port has issued the "Premium Route Operation Management Measures," incorporating maritime express lines into the premium route category. By focusing on operational processes such as berthing, cargo handling, and customs clearance, the port has implemented refined management and fully promoted the "three priorities" policy: priority piloting, priority berthing, and priority handling. This has improved berthing efficiency and service quality, setting a high-quality benchmark for port-shipping cooperation and providing an excellent service experience for cross-border e-commerce customers.

　　In terms of overseas logistics node layout, Ningbo Zhoushan Port has closely aligned with the global network layout of maritime express lines. In core radiation areas such as Europe, the Middle East, and South Asia, it has coordinated the construction of overseas warehouses, distribution centers, and container return points, achieving seamless connectivity between overseas nodes and maritime express lines. By the end of March 2026, Ningbo Zhoushan Port had established 12 overseas logistics nodes, effectively solving the "last mile" challenge of cross-border logistics, significantly reducing cargo transfer costs, and shortening overseas delivery cycles.

　　Innovating Logistics Models to Continuously Create Exemplary Maritime Express Lines

　　On September 23, 2025, the world's first commercially operated Arctic container express route between China and Europe successfully made its maiden voyage at Ningbo Zhoushan Port. The "Istanbul Bridge" vessel, taking the Arctic Northeast Passage, reached the Port of Felixstowe in the UK in just 20 days.

　　This is yet another vivid example of Ningbo Zhoushan Port's commitment to innovation-driven development, actively exploring new logistics models and opening new transportation channels.

　　In recent years, Ningbo Zhoushan Port has created a series of exemplary maritime express line cases with nationwide demonstration effects. It has innovatively launched the "Sea-Rail Express + Maritime Express" dual express model, creating a new multimodal cross-border logistics service model. By seamlessly connecting railways and ports, it has significantly shortened cargo consolidation times and improved logistics efficiency. Since March 2025, it has successively launched specialized "dual express" routes such as Yiditong, Wanyongou, and Wanyongya, improving overall efficiency by over 20%.

　　Achieving bi-weekly operations for the "China-Europe Express." Building on the monthly schedule, the "Ningbo Zhoushan Port-Germany Wilhelmshaven" China-Europe Express has focused on the growing export demand for the "new three items" and cross-border e-commerce goods. By deploying two cargo ships alternately on the route, it has increased the frequency of the "China-Europe Express," effectively ensuring shipment timeliness and supply chain stability. This further strengthens its service advantage as a new benchmark for the "Maritime Silk Road" from the Yangtze River Delta to Europe.

　　From the "world's largest port" to a "world-class strong port," every step of Ningbo Zhoushan Port's progress reflects its mission to serve national strategies. The journey of the "15th Five-Year Plan" has already begun. Under the unified deployment of the Ministry of Transport, the Zhejiang Provincial Department of Marine Economy Development will take maritime express lines as a key lever to improve international logistics efficiency, enhance supply chain resilience, and serve the joint construction of the "Belt and Road." Together with the Zhejiang Seaport Group, they will focus on building a world-class strong port, accelerating the construction of an efficient, smooth, safe, and stable cross-border logistics backbone network. They aim to further expand the layout of maritime express lines for the "new three items" and cross-border e-commerce, striving to increase the total number of maritime express lines at Ningbo Zhoushan Port to 34 by the end of 2030. Efforts will also be made to normalize and scale up operations of the China-Europe Arctic container express route, further increase the frequency of core foreign trade routes, expand emerging logistics channels, and deepen multimodal transport coordination such as sea-rail integration. These efforts will continuously enhance the core functions of the national logistics hub and its global resource allocation capabilities, contributing greater Zhejiang strength to the construction of Chinese-style modernization, ensuring the stability and smoothness of global industrial and supply chains, and promoting high-quality development of the maritime transport industry.

　　All-media reporter Chen Junjie, correspondent Zhang Lu