Chinese seaport cities register soaring output of port economy in 2023

TIANJIN -- Chinese seaport cities saw the added value of their port economy amount to 6.2 trillion yuan (about $869.05 billion) in 2023, which accounted for 13.4 percent of these cities' total economic output, said a report released on Wednesday.

The added value increased by 192.9 billion yuan over the previous year, according to the Port Economic Development Report of Chinese Seaport Cities 2024 released by the Transport Planning and Research Institute of the Ministry of Transport, at the Tianjin International Shipping Industry Expo 2024 that commenced on Wednesday in Tianjin Municipality.

The report provides a comprehensive evaluation of the port economic development of the country's 59 seaport cities.

Notably, the Yangtze River Delta region's seaport cities contributed 44.7 percent of the total added value of the port economy, thereby emerging as the most developed area of the port economy amongst coastal regions.

In 2023, the port economy accounted for 15 percent, 22 percent and 8 percent of the primary, secondary and tertiary industries in seaport cities, respectively, significantly supporting the primary and secondary industries, the report said.

The report noted that China's port economy is still based on fundamental traditional industries, facing the problems of low technological content, incomplete industrial chain and less cluster development.