Fujian’s “Maritime Silk Road” Initiative: Integrated and Coordinated Development of Ports, Shipping, and Trade

On September 1, the "Water Transport China" all-media publicity event officially released the "Silk Road Maritime" Port-Shipping-Trade Integration Development Research Report 2025" (referred to as the "Report"). The "Report" shows that Fujian's port-shipping-trade integration scored a comprehensive 92.1%, placing it in the excellent range overall.

The "Report" was jointly compiled by the China International Sustainable Transportation Innovation and Knowledge Center and the Fujian Port and Shipping Development Center. It established a "three-in-one" evaluation indicator system, setting three primary indicators: port development level, shipping development level, and trade development level, along with 12 secondary dimensions such as port infrastructure, shipping network coverage, and trade structure optimization. The system quantitatively evaluates the collaborative development effectiveness of the entire port-shipping-trade chain. According to the quantitative evaluation results for Fujian Province, the three dimensions are balanced in development—port development level at 92.6%, shipping development level at 92.3%, and trade development level at 91.3%, with a gap of only 1.3 percentage points between the highest and lowest indicators. This indicates that Fujian has established a mature collaborative development system integrating port foundation, shipping linkage, and trade empowerment.

In specific areas, port service efficiency and trade partner diversification have become strong supports for Fujian's port-shipping-trade integration development. The average time ships spend in Xiamen Port is only 40.4% of the global average, leading globally in efficiency. Fuzhou Port ranked first globally in the World Bank's 2025 Container Port Performance Index. By the end of 2025, Fujian Province had opened more than 310 container shipping routes along its coast, including 167 foreign trade routes, connecting to over 160 ports in more than 60 countries and regions. The total shipping capacity of Fujian Province exceeded 21 million deadweight tons, including 410,000 TEUs, ranking second nationwide. The average tonnage of coastal cargo ships exceeded 16,000 tons, and a fleet of large-scale, specialized transport ships has gradually taken shape.