Port of the Month: Shanghai – The biggest port in the world

The Port of Shanghai, located on the east coast of China, is currently the world’s busiest port by far. It is made up of various facilities, such as the deepwater port, the ports in the Wusong Port Area, the inland port and the port in the Waigaoqiao Free Trade Zone.

Ships are loaded and unloaded at 10 different terminals. The Port of Shanghai is also one of the most important trade hubs of Asia and the entire world.

An important part of the port is the Yangshan Deepwater Port in Hangzhou Bay, south of Shanghai. The various sections of the Yangshan Deepwater Port are connected to the mainland by the 32.5-kilometer-long Donghai Bridge. Containers are brought from a nearby rail-freight terminal to the port via feeder or trucks crossing the bridge.

In the fourth section (“Phase IV”) of the deepwater port lies the world’s first completely automated terminal, which was opened recently, in December 2017. The automated terminal boasts seven berths along a quay stretching over two kilometers long as well as more than 130 driverless vehicles. The “Seaspan Ganges,” a ship chartered by Hapag-Lloyd and operating in the AGX service, was the first regular vessel to moor at the new automated terminal.

However, this huge port isn’t that only thing that makes Shanghai a special city. Approximately 23 million people live in the metropolitan region. Another 3 million people visit the city each year and behold the impressive skyline, the coastline of the East China Sea, and the city’s historic gardens and sites.