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CCTV News: Busy ports with ships coming and going are a barometer for observing the pulse of the economy. International shipping carries more than 95% of my country's import and export cargo. As the road of maritime cargo trade becomes wider and farther, the construction of ports is also accelerating.

In the first half of 2024, the national ports completed a cargo throughput of 8.56 billion tons, a year-on-year increase of 4.6%; and completed a container throughput of 160 million TEUs, a year-on-year increase of 8.5%.

As shipping grows, port construction continues. In the first half of the year, my country added 7 large-scale automated terminals, and the number of automated terminals built and under construction ranked first in the world.

Container liner routes cover more than 100 countries and regions, and global maritime connectivity ranks first in the world. At the same time, my country's foreign trade structure continues to optimize, with exports of mechanical and electrical products accounting for nearly 60%, and the export value of automobiles, ships, and integrated circuits all achieving double-digit growth year-on-year. Qingdao Port: Dense routes connect land ports and smooth international logistics channels

Since 2024, the cargo throughput of many major ports in my country has increased significantly. In Qingdao Port, an important hub port in the north, the routes here are becoming more and more dense. The "seamless" sea-rail transport connects the port and the inland, activating greater development potential.

On Saturday afternoon, the Qingdao Port terminal was still busy with operations. A batch of tractors were being loaded onto a ship and were about to be sent to Madagascar in Africa. On the other side of the terminal, a batch of excavators and bulldozers had been loaded onto a ship and were about to be sent to Beira, Africa.

In the first half of 2024, Qingdao Port added 12 new international container routes, more than 50% of which are "Belt and Road" routes. The cargo transportation volume on these routes has increased significantly, and a large number of Chinese-made construction machinery, rubber tires, home appliances and other commodities have been transported to the countries participating in the construction of the "Belt and Road" through these routes.

As international freight routes continue to grow, more global goods are arriving. The "seamless" sea-rail transport reduces the intermediate links, reduces time and logistics costs, and allows a large number of goods arriving at the port to be transported to inland areas quickly, conveniently and continuously.

At the sea-rail transport center, which is about 200 meters away from Qingdao Port, containers that have just arrived at the port can be loaded onto trains and shipped quickly without customs declaration. The person in charge of the center said that they have deployed dozens of inland ports in the inland area. In the first half of the year, Qingdao Port added 6 new railway lines for sea-rail transport. Among them, after the Qingdao-Zhengzhou Putian train was put into operation, the one-way transportation time was shortened from 72 hours to 30 hours.

As the number of routes continues to increase, port operation efficiency continues to improve. In the first six months of 2024, the container throughput of Qingdao Port increased by 9% year-on-year. In addition to Qingdao Port, Ningbo Port opened three new international routes in the first half of 2024, and the total number of routes in the port remained at a high level of 300.

Shanghai Port, one of the world's busiest container ports, currently has a container shipping network covering more than 700 ports in more than 200 countries and regions around the world, with more than 3,200 liner flights in and out every month. As shipping routes become more and more dense, international logistics and transportation will become more smooth. Busy shipping promotes the growth of demand for new ships. China's shipbuilding industry has won more than 70% of the world's new orders

Shipping is the lifeline of global trade in goods. In 2023, my country's foreign trade shipping volume accounted for 30.1% of the world's total shipping volume, highlighting its status as a major foreign trade country. With busy shipping, the shipping market's demand for new ships has grown steadily. Data shows that more than 70% of new global shipbuilding orders go to China.

On Shanghai Changxing Island, a container ship to be delivered is 336 meters long, 51 meters wide, and 26.8 meters deep. Its deck area is about the size of three football fields and it can carry more than 13,000 standard containers. This is the sixth container ship delivered by this plant in 2024. Here, several container ships and large liquefied natural gas carriers are under intensive construction on Changxing Island.

The latest data released by the World Trade Organization recently showed that global merchandise trade volume turned to growth in the first quarter of 2024 after remaining flat throughout 2023. As global trade trends improve, demand for ships continues to increase.

Ships manufactured in my country have been favored by the global market. Among the 18 major ship types in the world, China ranks first in the world in terms of new orders for 14 types of ships. Among them, the new orders for container ships account for 97.5% of the global market share.

Industry insiders said that the global demand for automobile shipping trade continues to grow, but the supply of automobile carrier fleets will remain tight in the short term.

Under the influence of multiple factors such as the growth of maritime trade demand, in the first half of 2024, my country's shipbuilding completion volume was 25.02 million deadweight tons, a year-on-year increase of 18.4%; new orders were 54.22 million deadweight tons, a year-on-year increase of 43.9%; and backlog orders were 171.55 million deadweight tons, a year-on-year increase of 38.6%. The three major indicators of the shipbuilding industry grew simultaneously, continuing to lead the world.

Editor: Yang Shujie Editor-in-charge: Liu Liang