"The high-level shipping service industry has always been one of the most important areas to promote the opening up and development of Lingang New Area, we have the world's largest and most intelligent container hub port Yangshan Deep Water Port, the container throughput of Shanghai Port reached 47 million TEU, of which the throughput of Yangshan Port reached 23 million TEU."
At the first Dishui Lake High-level Shipping Service Industry Innovation Conference held on July 9, Chen Jinshan, member of the Standing Committee of the Shanghai Municipal Party Committee, Secretary of the Party Working Committee and Director of the Management Committee of Lingang New Area, said that it will make full use of the infrastructure advantages of world-class ports, give full play to the trade advantages of huge cargo flow, and quickly promote the development of high-level shipping service industry in Lingang New Area.
As a highland of China's opening up, Lingang is attracting more and more attention from international shipping portfolios and related shipping companies. The conference also attracted more than 1,000 people from international organizations such as the International Chamber of Shipping, the Baltic International Chamber of Shipping, the London Maritime Arbitrators Association, the Baltic Exchange, the Royal Chartered Shipbrokerage Institute, the British P&I Club, as well as relevant units of COSCO SHIPPING, Maersk, CMA CGM, OOCL and other port and shipping groups.
Lingang: How to make the most of world-class ports
According to the 2022 Xinhua Baltic International Shipping Center Development Index, Shanghai International Shipping Center continues to maintain the top three rankings. And in terms of scores, since entering the top three for the first time in 2020, the gap with the top two Singapore and London has gradually narrowed, and its international position has become increasingly solid.
"At present, the construction of Shanghai International Shipping Center is at a critical juncture from basic completion to comprehensive completion." Zhang Xiaohong, vice mayor of Shanghai, said at the above conference that under the general trend of green and intelligent development of the global shipping industry, efforts will be made to improve the level of shipping services and accelerate the construction of a new pattern of development of Shanghai International Shipping Center.
Zhang Xiaohong also stressed that Lingang New Area is an important bearing area and institutional innovation highland for the development of the service industry of Shanghai International Shipping Center, and in recent years, it has continued to promote the opening up of the shipping field to the outside world, explored the shipping development system and operation mode in line with international standards, and created a good development environment for the high-level shipping service industry.
How to further increase the strength of the high-level shipping service industry? At the conference, Lingang released China's first international shipping integrated service platform - Shipping Connect. According to the surging news (www.thepaper.cn) reporter, shipping pass is launched by Shanghai Lingang New Area Economic Development Co., Ltd. and Shanghai E&P International Co., Ltd. The platform aims to continuously optimize the regional business environment, focus on "efficiently do one thing" for shipping enterprises, and provide a one-stop service window for shipping enterprises through digital innovative service models.
The platform has five integrated service functions: enterprise registration, policy consultation, aviation services, financial services, and legal services. According to reports, the platform provides full-life cycle customized services for shipping enterprises in Lingang New Area through early intelligent enterprise investigation, mid-term business handling, and later accurate services; Integrate the professional advantages of Lingang New Area in finance, insurance, law and other aspects and shipping big data resources to realize the "all-factor" docking service of shipping enterprises; Provide facilitation service measures for the "China Yangshan Port" international ship registration, seafarer dispatch, bonded new fuel refueling, special route "Jianghai Direct", overseas talent services and other characteristic innovative businesses.
Zhuang Wei, general manager of the Asia-Pacific region of the Baltic International Shipping Association (BIMCO), said in an interview with The Paper (www.thepaper.cn) and other media that the development of high-level shipping service industry in Lingang is worth looking forward to, taking the release of shipping pass as an example, "how to carry out one-stop integration through the digital platform in the future, so as to become a better ecological chain depression, attract more institutions with service functions, and related industries can focus here." ”
In the view of Ding Yi, founder of Shanghai Miro Information Technology Co., Ltd. and associate professor of Shanghai Maritime University, these digital technologies, including shipping pass, play an important role in the transformation of the process, "The shipping industry involves a lot of entities, including shipping companies, port enterprises, regulators, and even financial institutions, then through a system such as shipping link, we can well glue all links together, reduce some losses due to communication and so on." ”
Ding Yi said that although further work will be carried out in the future, the release of the shipping platform "is a very important work for the entire Shanghai shipping industry to further build the Shanghai International Shipping Center." ”
On the same day, Lingang New Area also signed contracts with 16 high-level shipping service enterprises, with a total investment of more than 6 billion yuan, involving ship transportation, ship management and shipping service projects such as "digitalization", "intelligence" and "green and low-carbon".
Decarbonization: The shipping industry is in dire need of transformation
It is worth mentioning that at the conference site, "decarbonization" has become a high-frequency word, and this will also become a new opportunity for China's shipping.
Heike Deggim, Director General of the Maritime Safety Division of the International Maritime Organization (IMO), said shipping is a key link in global supply chains and affects the livelihoods of millions of people. The common challenge facing the IMO and the global shipping industry is the 2030 global sustainable development agenda proposed by the United Nations and related sustainable development goals. "The shipping industry is critical to achieving these goals, so we must be prepared for the challenge."
It mentioned that the IMO has developed a preliminary strategy on decarbonization. Just from 3 to 7 July, the 80th session of the IMO Marine Environment Protection Committee (MEPC) was held at its headquarters in London, where nearly 1,800 delegates adopted an updated strategy to reduce greenhouse gas emissions from ships. As the United Nations specialized agency responsible for setting global shipping standards, IMO proposes in its latest emission reduction strategy to peak greenhouse gas emissions from international shipping as soon as possible, and achieve net-zero greenhouse gas emissions before or around 2050, taking into account different national conditions.
Capt M Segar, Deputy Director General of the Maritime and Port Authority of Singapore, set decarbonisation as one of the themes of his keynote speech at the conference. He made it clear that the shipping industry is at a critical crossroads and that "the transformation of the industry is urgently needed to remain resilient and truly seize the opportunities of decarbonisation and digitalisation." ”
Siger further said that although shipping is the most environmentally friendly way to freight forward, the shipping industry is facing increasing pressure to decarbonize. "The decarbonization of ports and ships plays a very important role in the development of the shipping industry, but this transformation cannot be achieved by one party alone, and partnerships and shared knowledge are very important." SIGER believes that innovation and technology are key to changing industries, and the degree to which we embrace innovation will determine how quickly we are ready for the future.
Michael Lund, deputy secretary general of the Baltic International Chamber of Shipping, also spoke mainly about the decarbonisation of the shipping industry, "which is probably the biggest challenge the shipping industry has ever faced. Lander believes that we are currently in a situation where "the usual practices of the past are no longer sustainable, and 2023 will be the decisive moment for the decarbonization of our industry." ”
Among them, it is worth noting that in the process of urgent transformation of the global shipping industry, China's shipping, including the power of the Lingang New Area, may usher in new opportunities that cannot be sought in the traditional pattern.
Zhuang Wei told the surging news (www.thepaper.cn) reporter, "Lingang has actually laid out the track in advance, for example, in the future shipping fuel, LNG bunkering, green methanol bunkering, this is a unique opportunity." ”
He further added that if all merchant ships in the future are using a new fuel, and this fuel can only be added in a few places in the world, "the status of these places will be very prominent, and other shipping-related industrial ecology will be slowly created, including value-added services for shipping." In Zhuang Wei's view, decarbonization and digitalization are the two major tracks for Lingang to develop the high-level shipping service industry.
Lin Ji, deputy general manager and member of the party group of COSCO SHIPPING Group, a leading global integrated logistics and shipping company, also said at the conference that COSCO SHIPPING has advanced the layout of green energy, determined the development direction of methanol as an alternative fuel, and accelerated the supply chain construction of green shipping fuels such as green methanol. It mentioned that up to now, "new energy-powered ships account for more than 90% of newbuilding orders." ”
In terms of green methanol filling, Lin mentioned that COSCO SHIPPING is working with the Lingang Administrative Committee and SIPG to promote the pilot of green methanol filling and related standards in Yangshan Port. "The green and low-carbon transformation of the shipping service industry has entered the fast lane, which is both the trend of the times and the responsibility."