Maritime ‘golden corridor’ under BRI promotes cargo flows, shoring up more resilient global supply chains

(Photo/Courtesy of Xiamen Port)

In mid-January, a giant container vessel from Europe docked at Qingdao Port, East China's Shandong Province, marking the official launch of the port's first BRI shipping lane, linking Shandong with the Mediterranean countries.

This specific shipping route under the well-known "Maritime Silk Road" is expected to "strengthen trade connectivity between East Asia and the Mediterranean region," said a statement the port sent to the Global Times over the weekend.

And, the Qingdao Port opened up a new BRI route linking with Southeast Asia in early 2025, as part of its efforts to expand the international BRI logistics network and strengthen its role as a premier transshipment hub in Northeast Asia. In 2024, the port launched a total of 18 BRI shipping routes. The port has always served as a bridgehead in facilitating Chinese trade with the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) economies.

"With the high-quality development of the BRI, the port has witnessed a diversification of import and export cargo, including fresh king crabs from Russia's Far East, premium ores from Latin America, and juices from North America," a spokesperson of the port said.

With trucks shuttling back and forth at major ports from the southern to northern coasts, ports in Shenzhen, South China's Guangdong Province, Xiamen and Ningbo in East China's Fujian and Zhejiang provinces, Shanghai, Qingdao and Dalian, Northeast China's Liaoning Province, have been bustling with activities since work resumed after the eight-day Spring Festival holiday in early February. The scenes vividly illustrate the thriving maritime shipping under the BRI, which enters its 12th year in 2025, industry experts said.

They noted that the construction of a maritime "golden corridor" under the BRI is of great significance, as the corridor will promote the growth of trade and facilitate cargo flows among countries and continents, helping shore up a more balanced and increasingly resilient supply chain in the world.

Facilitating cargo flows

In January, Xiamen Port launched a new BRI trade route to link with Laem Chabang Port in Thailand. The newly opened Southeast Asia route features a fleet of three vessels operating on a weekly schedule, with scheduled stops at Ningbo Port and Guangzhou Port, completing the journey in approximately seven days.

According to a statement Xiamen Port sent to the Global Times, the opening of the new shipping route will provide "a more punctual and efficient logistics channel" between China and Thailand to facilitate trade of clothing, footwear, furniture, fertilizers, auto parts, and more.

"The new shipping route, undoubtedly, will help strengthen trade and economic ties between China's southeastern coastal provinces and Thailand," the statement noted.

Last year, China's trade with all BRI partner countries rose by 6.4 percent year-on-year to reach 22.07 trillion yuan ($3.04 trillion), surpassing 50 percent of China's total foreign trade, official customs data showed. Among them, China's trade with ASEAN expanded by 9 percent last year, keeping each other as the largest trading partners for the fifth consecutive year.

Qingdao Port said that it has kept expanding its shipping network with the BRI partner countries in recent years, with a particular emphasis on facilitating trade with Southeast Asia.

In addition, Chinese ports, through building up the "Maritime Silk Road" program, could better integrate with China-Europe freight train service, expanding its reach and creating a comprehensive international logistics corridor. In the case of the Qingdao port, cargo from Japan and South Korea arrives at the port before being transported to Central Asia and Russia via the China-Europe freight train.

Expanding trade

"Amid rising global trade uncertainties and escalating tariff tensions, the Global South countries are looking to diversify their trade partners and many are bound to strengthen trade ties with China. A stable and efficient maritime logistics network under the BRI is crucial for mitigating these uncertainties and injecting new momentum into global trade flows," Wang Yiwei, a professor at the School of International Relations at Renmin University of China, told the Global Times over the weekend.

On February 13, a container vessel completed the unloading of 110,000 tons of bauxite and manganese ore at Jiangyin Port, Fujian Province. Marking a milestone, this was the first bauxite transport vessel from Guyana, South America, to dock at the port, signaling the formal establishment of a new BRI maritime trade corridor between Jiangyin and Guyana, according to a report by the Shanghai Observer in February. Guyana became one of the first English-speaking Caribbean countries to join the BRI in 2018.

The report quoted industry insiders as saying that the new route diversifies China's bauxite import sources, which were previously concentrated in Guinea and Australia.

Industry observers anticipate that there will be the expansion of more direct maritime links between China and Latin America this year, which could fuel trade growth between the two economies, improve the Latin American region's economic structure, and benefit local well-being.

"The BRI has provided an important platform to stimulate global economic growth and enable developing countries to integrate more seamlessly into the global value chain. It will ultimately help build up global prosperity," Wang said.

In January, China COSCO Shipping launched a direct ocean trading route from Ningbo, East China's Zhejiang Province to Chancay Port in Peru, a flagship BRI project. And, in December 2024, the "Xin Shanghai," a vessel operated by China COSCO Shipping, arrived in Shanghai's Yangshan Port after a 23-day journey from Chancay Port, marking the first official voyage between the two ports, the Xinhua News Agency reported.

The operation of the Chancay Port has turbocharged trans-Pacific commerce, boosting trade of fruits, minerals, and machinery between Asia and Latin America. To date, goods worth more than $292 million have been processed at the Chancay Port, the China Media Group reported, citing data from Peruvian customs.