Cosa ha portato il porto di Nansha a Guangzhou?

20 Million TEUs: Nansha Port is Making History

On December 20, the annual container throughput of Guangzhou Port’s Nansha Port area surpassed 20 million TEUs (twenty-foot equivalent units), marking a historic milestone. This achievement places Nansha Port among the top three ports in China with annual throughput exceeding 20 million TEUs in a single port area. Since its launch 20 years ago, Nansha Port has handled over 230 million TEUs in total.

The scale of a port is measured by its throughput, while its strength is reflected in its container capacity. Reaching 20 million TEUs signifies that Guangzhou Port, with Nansha Port as its core, is advancing boldly toward becoming an international shipping hub. This milestone strengthens connectivity within the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area (GBA) and marks a pivotal step forward.

A larger Guangzhou Port is rising to support the city’s marine economy and transform Guangzhou into a modern metropolis with a distinct maritime character.

A higher-level Guangzhou Port is seizing opportunities to serve China’s opening-up at a higher standard.

A stronger Guangzhou Port is taking on the mission of integrating the GBA, serving national strategies, and driving regional economic and social development.

Harnessing the Ocean: Writing a New Chapter for Deepwater Ports

For centuries, Guangzhou residents have referred to the Pearl River as “the sea.” This is not a mistake but reflects the city’s long-standing dreams of thriving by the sea. As China’s largest water system in the south, the Pearl River originates from the confluence of three rivers, flowing through six provinces (Yunnan, Guizhou, Guangxi, Guangdong, Jiangxi, and Hunan) and the Hong Kong-Macao region before reaching the South China Sea through eight estuaries, including Humen, Jiaomen, and Hongqimen. Its abundant water resources, dense river networks, and vast hinterland have endowed Guangzhou with natural advantages in shipping.

Over 2,000 years ago, Guangzhou Port began its journey to the world, sailing from the city’s Mud City Wharf, carrying tea and other goods on the Pacific’s warm winds. Exotic animals like rhinos and elephants, along with rare treasures, arrived here, marking the start of the ancient Maritime Silk Road. For more than two millennia, Guangzhou Port has facilitated the continuous flow of goods and trade.

Fast forward to the 1980s: as foreign trade in the Pearl River Delta boomed, Huangpu Port’s waterways could no longer accommodate ultra-large container ships, hindering Guangzhou’s trade growth. The solution? Guangzhou decided to develop Longxue Island into a deepwater port to break the bottleneck.

In 2004, a turning point arrived. On September 28, the first phase of Nansha Port, comprising four 50,000-ton multipurpose berths, was officially put into operation. This marked the transformation of Guangzhou Port from a river port into a true deepwater seaport.

Located at the geometric center of the GBA and adjacent to other major ports like Shenzhen and Hong Kong, Nansha Port opted for differentiated development. It focused on Southeast Asia and Africa, enhancing the service capabilities of the GBA’s world-class port cluster. Two decades later, Nansha Port has become South China’s largest comprehensive hub port, the nation’s largest domestic trade container hub, the largest grain transshipment hub, a key automotive hub, and a major gateway for African and Southeast Asian shipping routes.

Recently, the State Council approved the Guangzhou Territorial Spatial Master Plan (2021–2035), positioning Guangzhou as a “modern city with distinctive maritime features.” Nansha Port has become a strategic pillar supporting Guangzhou’s vision of becoming a “world-class city with classic charm and modern vitality.” Thanks to Nansha Port, Guangzhou has transformed into a true “maritime city,” fulfilling its millennia-old dream of embracing the ocean. Moreover, Nansha Port is accelerating the formation of a world-class port cluster centered on the GBA.

Integrating Ports and Cities: A Core Question Revisited

Ports influence cities by reshaping resource allocation. A port creates pathways for enterprises to access global markets, attracts industries, drives trade, and optimizes industrial structures. The story of “port-driven urban development” begins here.

On the GBA’s geographic scale, Nansha Port has brought Nansha closer to the core urban areas of Guangzhou, Shenzhen, and even Hong Kong. In the long term, this will further urbanize Nansha while simultaneously driving the port’s growth, creating a dynamic relationship between the two. At the “Guangzhou Nansha Spatial Plan International Consultation Expert Exchange,” Wang Jixian, research director of the Belt and Road Hong Kong Center, highlighted the interplay between Nansha Port and the city.

Ports are natural hubs, driving urban development and economic growth. Today, ports are no longer limited to cargo handling; they have expanded into industrial, commercial, financial, and urban development functions. Over the past 20 years, Nansha Port has become a critical gateway for foreign trade in the Pan-Pearl River Delta region, attracting flows of people, goods, capital, and information. It has also drawn domestic and international resources, including capital, talent, goods, technology, and data.

Il Nansha Plan entrusted Guangzhou with the mission of “enhancing its role as an international shipping and logistics hub.” With Nansha Port as its core, Guangzhou Port is driving industrial cluster development, technological innovation, and regional collaboration, unlocking Nansha’s full potential.

Nansha’s port-city integration is also embedded in Guangzhou’s urban planning. For years, Guangzhou has pursued a “southward expansion” strategy, using Nansha Port as a pivot to extend the city’s functions toward the ocean. The Guangzhou Territorial Spatial Master Plan (2021–2035) envisions a maritime spatial framework of “one belt, three zones, and a string of pearls,” connecting coastal industrial clusters and extending traditional industrial chains toward the sea.

In August, the Three-Year Action Plan for Building Guangzhou into an International Shipping Hub (2024–2026) was released, proposing the construction of a Guangzhou Port Economic Zone. This initiative aims to accelerate the development of a modern port-side industrial system, strengthen linkages between the port zone and key functional areas, and convert port traffic into economic growth.

Anchoring the Ocean: Building Global Trade Corridors

The ocean is a flowing source of wealth. In a world where 90% of international trade relies on maritime transport, investing in the marine economy has become a consensus among global cities.

Earlier this December, Nansha Port welcomed its first “cherry express” shipment of the year after a 22-day, 20,000-kilometer journey. Today, Nansha Port is one of China’s largest ports for cherry imports. By tapping into China-Latin America trade opportunities and focusing on South American markets, Nansha Port has become a key gateway on the new Asia-Latin America trade corridor.

Beyond this, Nansha Port has launched international rail freight services to Central Asia, seamlessly connecting the “Maritime Silk Road” with the “Silk Road Economic Belt.” As the core of Guangzhou Port, Nansha is enhancing the resilience of foreign trade by optimizing shipping routes, improving port services, and promoting cross-border trade facilitation, strengthening its global competitiveness.

“More Chinese companies are choosing ASEAN countries as their first stop when expanding overseas. Nansha Port’s trade routes and logistics capabilities align perfectly with these plans,” said Xie Xiaohui, Vice Chairman of Nansha District’s Political Consultative Conference. With its strategic location and robust logistics capacity, Nansha Port is driving foreign trade, industrial development, and the global expansion of enterprises in Guangzhou and the GBA.

For example, Guangdong Homa Refrigerator Co., the world’s largest refrigerator exporter, began collaborating with Nansha Port in 2004, exporting 2,000 TEUs that year. By 2024, this figure had grown 110-fold to 220,000 TEUs. “For large manufacturing enterprises, the port is an essential lifeline for global expansion,” said Homa President Yao Youjun. “Nansha Port’s deepwater capabilities, short transport radius, and low costs have been instrumental in reducing logistics expenses and supporting China-made products’ global reach. We expect our exports through Nansha Port to grow by 10–20% annually.”

Recently, construction began on the first phase of the Guangzhou East Multimodal Transport Hub’s e-commerce transit center. Once completed, this will be the world’s largest e-commerce delivery center, further solidifying the GBA’s position as a global logistics hub.

Conclusion

With the milestone of 20 million TEUs as a new starting point, Nansha Port is propelling Guangzhou toward becoming a global logistics hub. The port’s seamless integration of maritime, land, air, and rail networks has created a comprehensive trade and logistics system centered in Nansha, radiating across the Pan-Pearl River Delta region.

As Guangzhou leverages Nansha Port to expand its global trade corridors, the city’s vision of becoming a world-class hub city is steadily taking shape. The tides of the ocean never rest, and neither does the story of Nansha Port’s transformative impact on Guangzhou.