By Lu Xuejiao
On July 11, the 2021 China Maritime Day Shanghai Forum themed "Opening A New Voyage and Creating A New Future For Shipping" opened at the North Bund of Hongkou District. Present at the forum were Zhang Wei, Vice Mayor of Shanghai, Fu Gangfeng, General Manager of COSCO Shipping Group, Wang Weiren, Deputy Secretary General of Shanghai Municipal Government, Yu Fulin, Director of Shanghai Municipal Transportation Committee, Guo Fang, Secretary of Hongkou District Party Committee, Jiang Wei, President of Shanghai Branch of Xinhua News Agency, Xu Yuchang, Chair and President of China Economic Information Agency, Xiao Yuehua, Director of Shanghai Maritime Safety Administration, Xu Guoyi, Office Director of Shanghai Modular Port Management Committee, Hu Guangjie, Deputy Chief and Governor of Hongkou District, Song Baoru, Chief of the Party Committee of Shanghai Maritime University, Ye Guobiao, Chair of China Financial Information Center, Zheng Hong, Vice Governor of Hongkou District, and other officials.
In the forum, Zhang Wei, Xu Yuchang and Song Baoru delivered speeches successively. Mark Jackson, CEO of the Baltic Exchange, delivered an "online speech". Guo Fang and the guests jointly released the "2021 Xinhua Baltic International Shipping Center Development Index”.
The Index includes three first-class indicators and 16 second-class indicators, which represent the internal law of the development of international shipping center cities from three dimensions of port conditions, shipping services and comprehensive environment. It not only measures the level of port and shipping development in the 43 sample cities, but also explores key issues such as the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on international shipping trade, the peak of carbon neutrality in the shipping industry. According to the report, Singapore, London, Shanghai, Hong Kong, Dubai, Rotterdam, Hamburg, Piraeus in Athens, New Jersey in New York and Zhoushan in Ningbo are the top 10 cities in the comprehensive strength of global shipping centers in 2021. Shanghai continues to rank third in the world, and it has made remarkable achievements in the construction of international shipping center.
The International Conference and Exhibition on Maritime Technologies for Climate Change Mitigation also opened at the forum. As an integral part of the Forum, it was attended by more than 150 representatives from global navigation equipment manufacturers and technology suppliers, shipping companies, ports and relevant research institutions of greenhouse gas, who shared the development of international cutting-edge low-carbon shipping technology, and China's green shipping concept and technological achievements together with more than 100 domestic and foreign participants，which is of great significance to promote the implementation of global greenhouse gas emission reduction strategy and jointly deal with the challenge of climate change.
At the forum, Shao Yu, Chief Economist of Orient Securities, and Jose Matheickal, Director of Major Projects Division of International Maritime Organization, made keynote speeches, respectively. Meanwhile, a high-end dialogue, which was hosted by Shi Xin, Vice President of Shanghai Maritime University, was also held. Wu Hongbing, Vice Director of Shanghai Maritime Safety Administration, Wu Zhaohui, Chief Expert in marine power field of China State Shipbuilding Corporation, Xu Tinghui, Deputy General Manager of China Merchants Energy Shipping Co., Ltd., Yang Zhiyong, Vice President of Shanghai International Port (Group) Co., Ltd., and Chen Shi, Director of Shanghai Institute of Rules and Regulations of China Classification Society, focusing on the theme of "Global Shipping, China's Action", discussed items including the research, development and achievement transformation of low-carbon technology of international cutting-edge ships and shipping, as well as the cooperation mechanism for capacity building in Asia to jointly address the challenges of climate change.
On behalf of shipping, port, manufacturing, technology and regulatory departments, the participants shared their own practices and experience in shipping energy conservation and emission reduction, put forward China's suggestions on the development of global green shipping and demonstrated China's actions.