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The Port of Shanghai is the largest seaport in the world, which was put into service in 1842. It has grown to become one of the most important ports in the region, providing a variety of port-related services for customers worldwide. The port occupies an area of almost 4 km squared and is connected to the Yangtse River, extending to multiple provinces of China. Its access to Chinese seas and oceans in other parts of the world makes it one of the most important Chinese gateways for foreign trade. The port chiefly handles shipments of the following products:
- Coal
- Metal ores
- Petroleum and petroleum products
- Steel
- Machinery and equipment
More than one-fourth of all cargo traffic in China is exported and imported through the port, with 99 percent of all of Shanghai’s foreign trade being processed there. Until 2010, the Port of Singapore was the largest port in the world, and in that year, the Port of Shanghai surpassed it by 500,000 TEU (twenty-foot equivalent units) of cargo transported through the port, thus becoming the busiest port in terms of container throughput.
The port's layout enables it to receive the largest container ships in the world. It is equipped with lifts capable of taking loads of over 100 tonnes and fixed, mobile, and floating cranes. The port has at least 125 docks and nineteen terminals. It has three terminals for break-bulk cargo and two bulk cargo terminals in the Luojing, Wusong, and Longwu areas. Its cruise terminal has the capacity to handle one million passengers over a year. It is the only port in China that accepts IMO (International Maritime Organization) import cargo as LCL (less than a container load). Other areas of the Port of Shanghai include the following:
- Yangshan Deepwater Port
- Waigaoqiao Terminal
- Shanghai Port Cruise Terminal
- Haitong Ro/Ro Terminal
- Luojing Terminal
As of 2022, the types of vessels regularly calling at the Port of Shanghai were as listed:
In the period between the fifth and seventh Centuries AD, the area where Port of Shanghai was eventually built was named Shen or Hudu. It had few residents and was not developed. In 1074 during the Song dynasty, Shanghai's status changed from village to market town, though its unfavorable position on the Yangtze River delta hampered its growth. A second sea wall was constructed in 1172 to stabilize the coastline, and by 1297 under the Yuan dynasty, the Port of Shanghai officially became a city.

Shanghai Waterfront, (c. 1870s), photographed by William Saunders from the Loewentheil Historical Photography of China collection
The Port of Shanghai's development began in the time of the Ming Dynasty. In 1554, a city wall was built to protect the town from Japanese pirates, and the City God Temple was built in 1602, advancements that significantly contributed to the city's economic development. During the Qing Dynasty in 1684, the port was authorized to accept ocean-bound vessels, and Shanghai gained exclusive control over customs collections for all foreign trade in the Jiangsu province. By 1735, the Port of Shanghai became the most important seaport in the Yangtze region.
In the nineteenth century, the port's significance grew considerably, since it occupied a valuable strategic position for trade with the Western world. The British held the Port of Shanghai briefly during the First Opium War. When the war ended with the Treaty of Nanjing in 1842, the Port of Shanghai became one of the treaty ports open for international trade.
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Treaty of Nanking being signed on board HMS Cornwallis
After the Port of Shanghai became a treaty port under the Treaty of Nanjing on August 29, 1842, which also included the ports of Canton (Guangzhou), Amoy (Xiamen), Foochow (Fuzhou), and Ningpo (Ningbo), the port opened for international trade.
Subsequent agreements, the Treaty of the Bogue (1843) and the Sino-American Treaty of Wangsai (1844), exempted foreign powers from local laws and initiated a series of foreign concessions. The British and American settlements joined in 1863 to form the International Settlement in the Port of Shanghai, while the French maintained their own separate French Concession. Around that time, the port attracted foreigners who settled there for years, some even generations, and came to call themselves Shanghailanders.
The Port of Shanghai became an official municipality in 1927 under the Republic of China, but the foreign communities remained free from Chinese control. Thousands of White Russians and Russian Jews fleeing the newly-formed Soviet Union immigrated to the Port of Shanghai in the 1920s and 1930s. These "Shanghai Russians" ended up being the second-largest foreign group in the area. By 1932, the Port of Shanghai was the world's fifth largest city, with its foreign population totaling 70,000.
The Second Sino-Japanese War, lasting from 1937 until 1945, made the Japanese community an integral group in the port. This group built the first factories, setting an example soon followed by other foreigners, which started Shanghai's industrial sector. In early 1932, the Japanese bombed the Port of Shanghai, ostensibly in response to student protests against the occupation of northeast China. In 1937, the Battle of Shanghai ended in Japan's occupation of the non-foreign areas of Shanghai, and the Japanese occupied the International Settlement in 1941, holding it until 1945.
Although the port’s first years were prosperous, when the communist regime took power in the late 1940s, the traffic in the port lessened considerably as all of Shanghai suffered an economic decline, while Hong Kong and Singapore and their respective ports continued to prosper. In 1949, the People's Liberation Army (an organization under the rule of China's Communist Party) seized control of the Port of Shanghai, and the majority of foreign business moved to Hong Kong.
In the middle twentieth century, the port developed into a busy industrial center. Even through the trying years of the Cultural Revolution, which it supported, the Port of Shanghai remained profitable and socially stable. Throughout most of the People's Republic (Chinese) history, the Port of Shanghai has been the most significant contributor of tax revenues in China.
The port's contributions to the national economy came at a high cost for the city of Shanghai. To some degree, the port hindered the development of the area's infrastructure. Since the Port of Shanghai was so vital to China's economy, the city did not benefit from the same economic liberalizations that other areas received in the middle 1980s.
Finally, in 1991, the Port of Shanghai was granted permission to implement economic reforms. This began today's era of economic and building booms. In subsequent years, the container volume in Port of Shanghai remained low until 1991. In this period, regulations facilitating international trade underwent change, as the Port of Shanghai was given permission to implement economic reforms.
By 2005, a large infrastructure was created, allowing more ships to be taken. With the passing years, traffic in the port has also increased. Ultimately, it became the biggest container port in the world. Although being on the top, it is continuously developed, handling more cargo every year.
Insufficient water depth at the port’s mainland necessitated the development of the Yangshan Deepwater Port in four phases. The deepwater port is located in the East China Sea, 30km from the mainland, to which it is connected by a 32.5km-long bridge.
The Phase I terminal (opened in December 2005) was completed at an investment of $7.5bn. The terminal operates at a water depth of 16m with five berths. In the first year of its construction, the terminal handled 3.1 million TEU. Phase II of the terminal was completed with an investment of $7bn and began operating in December 2006. This terminal can handle 2.1 million TEU and uses four berths. Phase III began its operations in 2008.
Phase IV of the terminal began its operations in December 2017. At that time, it was the world’s largest and most advanced automated container terminal, handling 2 million TEU in its first year of operation.
Shanghai International Port (Group) Co., Ltd. (SIPG) is the operator of public terminals in the Port of Shanghai. SIPG was incorporated in 2003 with the reorganization of the former Shanghai Port Authority. In 2006, the SIPG became a limited company whose major shareholders include Shanghai's municipal government, China International Terminals Company, and Shanghai Tongsheng Investment Group Corporation. Shanghai State-Assets Operation Company and Shanghai Dasheng Assets Company are minor shareholders of SIPG.