According to Shenzhen’s transport authorities, Shenzhen Port’s container throughput this year reached the 30 million TEU mark three weeks earlier than in 2025. The proportion of loaded containers has risen steadily for four consecutive years, the cargo structure has continued to improve, and the port’s overall operations have shown a simultaneous rise in both “volume” and “quality.”

Hub capacity steadily improving: denser routes and higher-quality foreign trade advance in tandem

The early milestone of container throughput reflects Shenzhen Port’s systematic achievements in seizing opportunities from the recovery of global trade and continuously densifying its global route network.

As of October 17, Shenzhen Port had completed a cumulative container throughput of 30.10 million TEU, up 7.7% year on year, with loaded containers up 8.0% year on year. It had opened more than 270 international container liner routes and regularly operated more than 30 point-to-point cross-border e-commerce ocean express routes.

This year, Shenzhen Port established sister-port relationships with Piraeus Port in Greece and Yeosu-Gwangyang Port in South Korea, bringing the total number of sister ports to 31. Cargo volume between Shenzhen Port and APEC member economies accounts for more than 50% of Shenzhen’s total foreign trade. Relying on a close international port and shipping cooperation network, APEC member economies are both Shenzhen Port’s largest export market and a key source of raw materials. Sixteen Asia-Pacific sister ports link a complete supply-demand chain.

Among new drivers of foreign trade, roll-on/roll-off (RoRo) transport capacity has also expanded. From January to September, Shenzhen Port handled more than 290,000 units of complete vehicles and automotive KD kits by sea, up 40.7% year on year. Of this total, complete vehicles exceeded 160,000 units, up 53.2% year on year. In the Shenshan Special Cooperation Zone, newly produced vehicles rolling off the line at the Xiaomo complete-vehicle manufacturing base can be driven into Xiaomo Port in as little as five minutes and loaded onto ocean-going RoRo ships. The “port in front, factory behind” and port-industry linkage model enables “Shenzhen-made” new energy vehicles to reach global markets.

Optimizing the collection and distribution system: road-to-water and road-to-rail shifts jointly reduce carbon emissions and improve efficiency

Shenzhen Port has focused on optimizing its port collection and distribution system, vigorously developing water-to-water transshipment and sea-rail intermodal transport, actively developing combined ports and inland ports, and promoting a green and low-carbon adjustment of the transport structure. Since taking the lead in building the “Combined Port” system in 2019, the share of waterway collection and distribution at Shenzhen Port has risen continuously from 27.7%. As of September 2026, the share had increased to 33.4%, showing continued results in the road-to-water shift.

The combined-port and inland-port networks have been densified simultaneously. Within the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area, by promoting the “Combined Port” model, Shenzhen Port has moved customs clearance, inspection and other regulatory procedures forward to river ports, achieving integrated and coordinated operations with neighboring ports. At present, Shenzhen Port has opened a total of 50 combined-port routes, covering 11 cities in Guangdong Province, including Guangzhou, Zhongshan, Huizhou, Dongguan and Foshan.

At the same time, Shenzhen Port has accelerated the expansion of its inland-port service network, with 33 inland ports opened and 45 sea-rail intermodal routes launched, covering the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area, Southwest China and Central China. It is gradually forming an efficient, well-laid-out multimodal transport system, truly enabling inland enterprises to feel that “a major international port is at their doorstep” and effectively helping enterprises reduce cross-border logistics costs. Since the beginning of this year, Shenzhen Port has completed 209,000 TEU of container throughput through the inland-port model, up 49% year on year.

Advanced layout of a smart port: coordinated upgrading of automated equipment and intelligent operations

The stable operation of high-throughput volumes would not be possible without the advanced layout of smart-port infrastructure.

The Yantian Port East Operation Area is equipped with China’s largest automated dual-trolley quay cranes, with a lifting height of 55 meters and an outreach of 75 meters. They can readily handle 32,000-TEU ultra-large container ships, which are 33% larger than the current largest ships in the world, deepening the integrated operations of Yantian Port’s central, west and east port areas.

Mawan Smart Port is China’s first smart benchmark port area upgraded and transformed from a traditional container terminal, and Shenzhen’s first pilot project for building China into a transport powerhouse. Relying on the self-developed China Merchants Core CTOS port operating system and coordinated with a 5G autonomous vehicle fleet management system, the port area has built an integrated intelligent scheduling system. It can accurately issue and execute production instructions in a closed loop, automatically completing full-process operations such as quay crane and yard crane alignment, horizontal container transport, vehicle charging, and twist-lock handling.

In addition, Shenzhen Port’s green development path shows “full-chain, multi-dimensional” coordinated characteristics. In terms of shore power, the port has built shore-power facilities at 124 berths, with berth shore-power coverage reaching 95%. From January to September, shore power consumption reached 47.7 million kWh, up 34% year on year, continuing to rank in the top tier of coastal ports nationwide.

Ship greening is accelerating. South China’s most powerful all-electric smart tugboat, “Shengang Electric Tug 1,” has been officially put into operation. In the field of LNG bunkering, from January to September Shenzhen Port’s cumulative bunkering volume exceeded 440,000 cubic meters, up 19.4% year on year, firmly ranking second in China and fourth globally.