A trade war with the U.S. won’t stop China’s major ports from setting container handling records in 2025—all with a month still to play.
The country’s two top port complexes, the Port of Shanghai and the Port of Ningbo-Zhoushan, set annual volume records just 11 months later, topping 90 million combined in 20-foot equivalent units (TEUs).
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The port of Shanghai handled its 50 millionth TEU on Nov. 26, a full 26 days earlier than it did in 2024, according to a statement from Gateway. With the milestone, the port is on pace for first place in global container throughput for 16.th consecutive years. In 2024, the Chinese port handled more than 51.5 million TEUs, well surpassing the 41.1 million TEUs passing through the second-busiest port, the Port of Singapore.
Shanghai Port did not break out exact numbers for November, and did not give a projection for December, or for the full year. The port said container throughput exceeded 46 million TEUs in the first 10 months of the year, up 6.5 percent from 2024. This would put the estimated November container movement within the range of 4 million TEUs.
In a statement, port operator Shanghai International Port Group, Ltd. attributed the growth to “moving beyond standalone equipment automation” toward a new phase of “intelligent collaboration” across the port’s broader ecosystem.
“With the intensive use of cutting-edge technologies (eg, F5G, digital twins, and high-precision positioning), remote operation, unmanned transportation and intelligent scheduling have become routine, marking a fundamental shift from ‘human-controlled’ to ‘AI-controlled’ practice,” the operator said in a statement. “This smart transformation, powered by indigenous technologies, not only improves terminal efficiency, but also demonstrates China’s fully autonomous and reliable port-technology capabilities to the rest of the world.”
This year, Shanghai Port added 12 new international routes, covering 50 major ports around the world, while increasing shipping transshipment efficiency by 22 percent.
For the Ningbo-Zhoushan port, 2025 was also a banner year, with throughput exceeding 40 million for the first time on Tuesday.
According to port owner Zhejiang Seaport Group, the operation of the Ningbo-Zhoushan gateway has accelerated from 30 million TEUs annually in four years.
“The port started relatively late in container operations, but it has developed very quickly,” Tao Chengbo, president of Zhejiang Seaport Group, said in a statement.
For November, container throughput rose nearly 11 percent from a year earlier to 4.5 million TEUs.
Amid external trade tensions, both ports are deepening cooperation with each other. According to a report by Hong Kong-based publication Bastille Post Global, Shanghai and Ningbo-Zhoushan ports have achieved 18 percent annual growth in annual throughput of cargo between the two gateways.
The higher growth numbers in Shanghai and Ningbo-Zhoushan come amid expectations of a monthly rebound in exports outside China. Outbound shipments in November were expected to rise 3.8 percent in value terms from a year earlier, according to the median forecast of 20 economists in a Reuters poll.
That followed a surprise export drop of 1.1 percent in October, with China facing not only a modest double-digit year-on-year decline in cargo bound for the US, but weaker strength from other partners such as the EU, the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) and Africa.
As for imports entering China, a Reuters poll forecast inbound cargo to rise 2.8 percent, up 1 percent from a year earlier in the month.
As China is expected to reveal official customs data in the coming days, eyes are also on freight rates that have risen in the past week for cargo leaving the country.
Spot ocean freight rates rose 7 percent to $1,927 per 40-foot container after three weeks of declines, according to Drewry’s World Container Index (WCI) data, mainly due to rate increases on the trans-Pacific and Asia-to-Europe trade routes.
Spot rates from Shanghai to Los Angeles rose 8 percent to $2,256 per container, while the New York average rose 6 percent to $2,895. And in Europe, spot rates on vessels bound for Genoa rose 15 percent to $2,648 a box, while rates from Shanghai to Rotterdam rose 4 percent to $2,241.
“Some carriers have adopted a weekly strategy for GRIs. Rather than announcing large increases that tend to subside quickly, carriers are introducing smaller, more frequent increases to maintain constant upward pressure on spot rates,” Drury said in an update Thursday, calling the weekly GRI strategy for the U.S.-bound cargo effect. Container Shipping Consulting expects stable rates in the coming week.
