Forum boosts global shipping and aviation in Shanghai

The 2025 North Bund Forum will be held in Shanghai from Sunday to Tuesday, bringing together guests from more than 50 countries and regions to discuss sustainable development in the global shipping and aviation industries, officials said.

Themed "Collaborating for Sustainable Global Shipping & Aviation", this year's event marks the fifth edition of the forum, Yu Fulin, director of the Shanghai Municipal Transportation Commission, said at a news conference on Friday.

"This year's event will be hosted jointly by the Ministry of Transport and the Shanghai Municipal People's Government. It consists of an opening ceremony, a main forum, two forums, four thematic sessions, and more than ten featured activities," Yu added.

The two main forums — the North Bund International Shipping Forum and the North Bund International Aviation Forum — will focus on the development of new quality productive forces in shipping amid global transformation, and on innovation and intelligence in shaping the future of aviation.

The four thematic sessions will cover maritime traffic safety, finance and insurance, digitalization and intelligence, and judiciary and arbitration. About 4,000 participants are expected to attend the forum in person, according to organizers.

Yu said Shanghai has made steady progress in building itself into an international shipping hub during the 14th Five-Year Plan period (2021–25). The city currently ranks third globally in terms of overall shipping competitiveness.

The Port of Shanghai, the world’s busiest container port, handled 51.5 million twenty-foot equivalent units (TEUs) in 2024, becoming the first port worldwide to surpass 50 million TEUs in annual throughput. It has maintained its position as the world’s busiest container port for 15 consecutive years.

In the first three quarters of this year, the port handled 41.5 million TEUs.

During the same period, Shanghai’s two airports handled 100 million passenger trips and 3.29 million tons of cargo and mail, representing year-on-year increases of 8.04 percent and 6.72 percent, respectively.

"With the expansion of the Shanghai Pudong International Airport and the construction of Shanghai East Railway Station, a large-scale integrated transportation hub will take shape, incorporating high-speed rail, urban rail, metro lines, buses and the airport," Yu added.