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China Shipping News

10 Nov 2025

China Pauses Port Fees on US-Linked Ships for One Year

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China suspended for one year port fees levied on U.S.-linked vessels, its transport ministry said on Monday, after Washington announced a similar pause on punitive actions against China's shipping and shipbuilding sectors.The reciprocated pauses were in line with agreements reached by U.S. President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping during a summit in South Korea last month.The suspension kicked in from 13:01 local time (0501 GMT), according to the transport ministry's statement.Beijing welcomed a November 9 announcement made by the U.S.

10 Oct 2025

China Counters With Additional Port Fees for US Ships

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Vessels owned or operated by U.S. firms and individuals, or those built in the United States or that fly the U.S. flag, will be charged additional port fees per voyage starting on Tuesday, China's transport ministry said.The fees are a countermeasure against upcoming U.S. port fees on Chinese ships, the ministry said on Friday.Also starting on October 14, ships built in China - or operated or owned by Chinese entities - will need to pay a fee at their first port of call in the United States.

10 Oct 2025

China Strikes Back: Additional Port Fees for US Ships from Mid-October

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Vessels owned or operated by U.S. firms and individuals - or those built in the United States or that fly the U.S. flag - will be charged additional port fees per voyage starting on October 14, China's transport ministry said.The fees are a counter-measure against upcoming U.S. port fees on Chinese ships, the ministry said on Friday.Also starting on October 14, ships built in China - or operated or owned by Chinese entities - will need to pay a fee at their first port of call in the United States.

27 Jun 2025

World First: Hydrogen-Electric Tug No.1 Enters Service in China

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China's first hydrogen-electric tugboat, the Hydrogen-Electric Tug No.1, was officially put into service on Thursday at Qingdao Port, east China's Shandong Province. Compared to traditional fuel-powered tugboats, this vessel is expected to reduce carbon dioxide emissions by over 1,500 tons annually, marking a breakthrough in terms of the application of hydrogen energy in China's shipping sector.The tugboat integrates the Beidou navigation system and is equipped with a hybrid power system combining hydrogen fuel cells and liquid-cooled lithium batteries, enabling zero carbon emissions.

16 Jan 2025

Sanctioned Tanker Discharges Oil in China

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A tanker subject to the new U.S. sanctions is discharging Russian oil at a port operated by Shandong Port Group in east China, shipping data on LSEG Eikon showed on Thursday.The tanker is the first since last week's sanctions announcement to discharge in Shandong province where many of China's independent refineries that have been big importers of Russian crude are based.It will be monitored closely by those in the industry anxious to know how strictly the measures will be implemented.The sanctions include a grace period exempting cargoes loaded before Jan.

11 Sep 2024

UK Hits at Russia's 'Shadow Fleet' with Fresh Vessel Sanctions

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Britain has slapped sanctions on 10 further ships in Russia's so-called "shadow fleet" of vessels which it says use illicit practices to avoid Western restrictions on Russian oil.Russia rejects Western pressure to limit its oil exports, and in the past year there has been a growth in the number of tankers transporting cargoes that are not regulated or insured by conventional Western providers."Today’s sanctions further undermine Russia’s ability to trade in oil via its shadow fleet," British foreign minister David Lammy said in a statement on Wednesday.The foreign ministry said the action take

22 Nov 2023

Maersk Enters Deal for Half a Million Tonnes of Green Methanol Annually

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Maersk on Wednesday announced it had entered into the shipping industry's first large-scale agreement for green methanol from China's Goldwind, and said production of green methanol was high on the political agenda in China.Shipping industry leader Maersk is investing in green fuels to power its fleet as it strives to reach net-zero emissions by 2040, while the shipping industry, responsible for 3% of global greenhouse gas emissions, aims for net-zero emissions by 2050."There's a lot of activity in China in this field for sure.

11 Jul 2023

China Celebrates National Maritime Day

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China celebrated its 19th National Maritime Day on July 11, with celebrations taking place in museums and schools along with a range of technical conferences.The Ministry of Transport released the 2022 China Shipping Development Report which showed that container throughput at ports increased by 4.7% and the volume of rail-water multi-modal transport routes increased by 16% year-on-year.China Daily reports Vice-Transport Minister Fu Xuyin saying: “By the end of last year, the Chinese fleet reached a carrying capacity of 370 million deadweight tons…

29 Mar 2023

China’s First Hydrogen Fuel Cell Powered Passenger Catamaran Launched

Source: China Classification Society

China’s first hydrogen fuel cell powered boat “Three Gorges Hydrogen Boat No. 1” has been launched in Guangdong.“Three Gorges Hydrogen Boat No. 1” is a 164 foot long, 33 foot wide passenger catamaran capable of reaching a maximum speed of 17 miles/hr. It is powered by a 500 kW hydrogen fuel cell with a 1,800 kWh lithium battery system and has a range of 124 miles. The steel-hulled vessel has an aluminum superstructure and glass curtain wall construction.It is expected to lead…

23 Mar 2023

HHLA Urges German Gov't to Approve Cosco Investment in Hamburg port

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German logistics firm HHLA on Thursday called on the German government to uphold its responsibility towards the port of Hamburg and finally approve an agreed investment of China's shipping firm Cosco.HHLA has been waiting for a final go-ahead from the economy ministry for 18 months and now expects to hear back soon, Chief Executive Angela Titzrath said. "We believe we have answered all the questions," she said at a presentation of HHLA's 2022 results. HHLA had implemented all the ministry's requirements for the contract with Cosco.

13 Sep 2022

Shipping Lines, Container Owners Struggle to Return Boxes to China

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Shipping lines and container owners in North America (majorly in the U.S.) are finding it difficult to return containers to China. To add to the present challenges, the U.S. is also facing major trucking issues that are making cargo movement within the country difficult.The U.S. is again in the spotlight according to the monthly container logistic report published by Container xChange, a technology marketplace and operating platform for container logistic companies.“What is happening in the U.S.

25 May 2022

World’s Biggest Port is Returning to Normal, but Supply Chains Will Get Worse Before They Get Better

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Shanghai is slowly emerging from a grueling COVID lockdown that has all but immobilized the city since March. Although Shanghai’s port, which handles one-fifth of China’s shipping volumes, has been operating throughout, it has been running at severely reduced capacity. Many shipments have either been canceled, postponed, or rerouted to other Chinese mega-ports such as Ningbo-Zhousan.With the city due to fully reopen on June 1, the port is going to be in overdrive as manufacturers try to fulfil backlogs, with serious knock-on effects around the world.

04 May 2022

China Lockdowns May Worsen Container Congestion, Maersk Says

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Bottlenecks in global container shipping could worsen later this year as a result of new COVID-19 lockdown measures in China, shipping group Maersk warned on Wednesday.Maersk, often seen as a barometer for global trade, said a surge in consumer demand, pandemic-related congestion in major ports and more recently an airspace closure following Russia's invasion of Ukraine have slowed down container shipments and prompted a spike in freight rates."Further challenges arise from the ongoing COVID-19 lockdowns in China…

31 Jan 2020

China Virus May Delay Scrubber Retrofits

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Shipping companies may face delivery delays of vessels fitted with exhaust gas filtering equipment that complies with anti-pollution rules that kicked in this year due to the impact from the virus outbreak in China, shipping sources said on Friday.A Mitsui OSK Lines executive said many vessels were in Chinese docks to get so-called scrubbers installed to meet the new emissions rules but with four Chinese provinces asking companies to extend the Lunar New Year holiday by a week, to Feb.

27 Jun 2019

Shipping Companies: Is Bigger Better?

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“If consolidation was the solution to all that ails shipping, then container liner companies would be super profitable. They are not. In ‘commoditized’ sectors of the shipping industry, which by now includes pretty much everything apart from very small niche markets, there is hardly any economies of scale at the company level. As long as bigger is not in fact much better, then meaningful consolidation will not happen.”Dr. Roar Adland, visiting scholar at MIT Center for Transportation and Logistics and Professor at the Norwegian School of Economics (NHH).Like any other business…

20 Jul 2018

CMA CGM Buys Stake in CSP Zeebrugge Terminal

(Photo: Port of Zeebrugge)

French container carrier CMA CGM announced Friday it has acquired from CHINA SHIPPING Ports Development Co. Limited, a wholly-owned subsidiary of COSCO Group, a 10 percent equity interest in CSP Zeebrugge Terminal NV, through its wholly-owned subsidiary CMA Terminals.CMA CGM is currently the major client of the Belgian container terminal and accounted for one third of CSP Zeebrugge's total throughput in 2017.COSCO SHIPPING Ports completed the acquisition of the remaining 76 percent…

22 Oct 2018

Cosco Shipping Begins Shipment of Toyota Exhibits

China Ocean Shipping (Group) Company (Cosco Shipping) started shipment of Toyota exhibits, which will be displayed at the 1st China International Import Expo (CIIE), at Honmoku Pier, Yokohama in Japan.Cosco Shipping (Japan) and Cosco Shipping Lines (Japan) provided transport service for these exhibits, the company said in its press release.This first batch of exhibits, which are the latest models of Toyota, were loaded in flat rack containers and carried by M.V. China Shipping Tokyo from Yokohama to Shanghai.To ensure smooth transportation for this Expo, Cosco Shipping (Japan) and Cosco Shipping Lines (Japan) have customized total logistics…

28 May 2019

CSSC Mulls $280 million Hong Kong IPO

The ship-leasing unit of China’s state-owned shipbuilder China State Shipbuilding Corp. (CSSC) plans to raise as much as HK$2.2 billion ($280 million) in an initial public offering in Hong Kong.CSSC (Hong Kong) Shipping, the leasing company, is issuing 153.4 million shares at an indicative price range of HK$1.34 to HK$1.42. The minimum investment is HK$2,868.62 per lot of 2,000 shares.CSSC (Hong Kong) Shipping owns 100 vessels with a total value of $5.6 billion.According to Caixin, CSSC will remain the largest shareholder of the Hong Kong unit with 75% after the listing.The report said that CSSC (Hong Kong) Shipping has secured four cornerstone investors that subscribed for a combined 1.25 billion shares.The investors are China Reinsurance Corp., China Shipping Container Lines Co.

29 Jul 2019

Containers Market to Reach $12bln by 2023

The global shipping containers market garnered $9.29 billion in 2017 and is estimated to reach $12.08 billion by 2023, growing at a CAGR of 4.5% from 2017 to 2023.Surge in seaborne trade, rise of transportation services, and increase in number of manufacturing facilities drive the growth in the market, said a research report by Allied Market Research.However, decreasing economic growth in few nations in Europe and the Asia-Pacific region restrain the market growth. On the other hand, the implementation of development programs and different supportive initiatives present new opportunities for growth, it said.Based on size of container…

15 Jul 2019

Containers Market to Reach $12bln by 2023

The global shipping containers market, which amassed $9.29 billion in 2017, is estimated to reach $12.08 billion by 2023, growing at a CAGR of 4.5% from 2017 to 2023.According to a report by Allied Market Research, surge in seaborne trade, rise of transportation services, and increase in number of manufacturing facilities drive the growth in the market. However, decreasing economic growth in few nations in Europe and the Asia-Pacific region restrain the market growth.On the other hand, the implementation of development programs and different supportive initiatives present new opportunities for growth, it said.Asia-Pacific is a lucrative region.

10 Oct 2019

Chinese LNG Sector Growth to Continue

China is at the forefront of the large LNG sector growth and is emerging as the largest source of new LNG demand growth and second largest importer of LNG, VesselsValue revealed.China’s natural gas consumption has surged amid a gasification program and plan that is shifting millions of households and a large number of factories to natural gas from coal, said the report.Greece and Japan dominate in terms of USD value. Greece has recently overtaken Japan as the top owning country, ordering a large number of vessels since 2018.However, we have seen China emerge in the LNG market owning a total of USD 5.9 billion of Large LNG assets, which…

21 May 2019

LNG Shipping Market Declines in Q1: Golar

The 1Q liquefied natural gas (LNG) shipping market declined from strong 4Q levels in line with historic seasonality, said Golar LNG, a LNG shipping company registered in Bermuda.LNG demand growth in China and other SE Asian countries was largely offset by declines in Japan and Korea due to a combination of a milder than expected winter and the re-start of several nuclear facilities. Chinese 1Q demand was up 20% up on 1Q 2018. During the quarter LNG prices reached 3-year lows, which eliminated inter-basin trading opportunities. At quarter end, LNG was trading at around 6% of Brent, well below energy parity. Atlantic basin cargoes from the US and Russia into Europe doubled by volume compared to 1Q 2018.

03 Apr 2019

COSCO Calls on Port of Liverpool

China's COSCO Shipping has confirmed it will call at the port of Liverpool after a successful trial last October to offer its clients more efficient services between Britain and Canada."The world’s top five shipping lines are all now calling at Liverpool following confirmation that Chinese giant COSCO Shipping is to ship via the port," said a statement from the UK's most centrally-located container port.COSCO Shipping will take slots on an existing Canadian service via Montreal with OOCL. It joins MSC, Maersk, CMA and Hapag in starting or growing a presence in Liverpool.The decision follows a successful trial by COSCO Shipping in October…