The global container ship hand-held order volume has reached a record high, with more than 1350 and 11.8 million TEU, mainly undertaken by Chinese shipping enterprises. Despite trade policy uncertainty and declining freight rates, new ship orders continued to grow, with ultra-large ships dominating, while orders for small and medium-sized ships also increased rapidly. Handheld orders account for more than 35% of the existing fleet, raising concerns about future market overcapacity. BIMCO predicts that the delivery of new ships will increase the size of the fleet by about 6.1 per cent annually, putting pressure on the balance between supply and demand.

From January to February 2024, the cargo throughput of Jiaxing Port increased by 17.91 year-on-year, and the throughput of foreign trade cargo and containers also achieved substantial growth. This is due to a number of precise measures taken by Jiaxing Maritime Safety Administration: to solve the problem of "detour" of foreign ships through cross-domain coordination and to improve navigation efficiency; Provide "non-closing" government services and joint boarding and inspection to reduce enterprise costs; Strengthen the safety supervision of old ships and build a strong line of defense. It also helps the opening of new routes and the efficient sailing of "new three kinds" of goods, providing a strong guarantee for the port to "good start.

The International Maritime Organization warned that sending warships to escort the Strait of Hormuz is not a long-term and sustainable solution and cannot fully ensure the safe passage of ships. The organization will hold a special meeting to discuss regional maritime risks. As a key channel for global energy transportation, the Strait of Hormuz has a huge daily crude oil transportation volume. Recently, the security of the Strait of Hormuz has plummeted due to the military attack on Iran by the United States and Israel. The United States has called for multinational convoys but has received little response, and the International Energy Agency has agreed to release strategic oil reserves to stabilize the market.

China's first "the People's Republic of China Ecological Environment Code" was officially promulgated, in which several chapters systematically regulate the transportation and water transportation industry. The Code sets up a special section on the prevention and control of ship pollution in the sub-sections of "Water pollution Prevention" and "Marine pollution Prevention", which sets clear requirements for the discharge of pollutants from ships, the equipment of pollution prevention equipment and port reception facilities, and sets corresponding legal responsibilities, marking that China's inland river and marine environmental protection has entered a new stage of stricter rule of law.

Recently, the "Henan Lion Camp-Rizhao Port" sea-rail intermodal chemical franchise channel was officially opened. This channel is an important measure for Rizhao Port to respond to the national policy of "turning from revolution to railway" and integrate into the development strategy of the Yellow River Basin. It has created an efficient, stable and green new channel for high value-added chemicals in the Central Plains. Through customized logistics scheme and closed-loop management, the whole transportation time of goods is reduced by more than 40%, which significantly improves logistics efficiency and customer satisfaction.

The Ministry of Industry and Information Technology and other three departments issued a notice to deploy and carry out the pilot work of comprehensive application of hydrogen energy. The notice proposes to select urban agglomerations to take the lead in pilot projects by means of "unveiling the list", with the goal of realizing the large-scale application of hydrogen energy in diversified fields by 2030, striving to reach 100000 fuel cell vehicles nationwide, and reducing the cost of terminal hydrogen. The move aims to promote the large-scale and high-quality development of the hydrogen energy industry through scenario traction and policy support, cultivate new kinetic energy for economic growth, and help the green transformation of traditional industries.

From January to February 2026, China's total social electricity consumption reached 1654.6 billion kWh, an increase of 6.1 percent over the same period last year, indicating a sustained economic recovery. In terms of industries, the fastest growth rate of electricity consumption in the tertiary industry reached 8.3 per cent, with electricity consumption in the charging and switching services and Internet data services surging by 55.1 per cent and 46.2 per cent respectively. The electricity consumption of the secondary industry increased by 6.3, and the electricity consumption of the high-tech and equipment manufacturing industry increased by 10.6 year-on-year, highlighting the strong momentum of industrial upgrading. The domestic electricity consumption of urban and rural residents maintained steady growth.

On March 13, the Ministry of Transport held a party group meeting and a ministerial meeting to convey and study General Secretary Xi Jinping's important speech during the National Two Sessions and the spirit of the National Two Sessions, and to study, deploy and implement the work. The meeting pointed out that it is necessary to thoroughly study and implement the spirit of General Secretary Xi Jinping's important speech, anchor the strategic goal of accelerating the construction of a transportation power, focus on improving the modern comprehensive transportation system, and promote the high-quality development of transportation. The meeting stressed the need to do a solid job in all kinds of work this year, including cultivating new quality productivity in the field of transportation, serving domestic and international double circulation, doing a good job in transportation for the people, grasping safety and stability, and formulating and implementing the transportation plan of the 15th five year plan with high quality, and carrying out the study and education of establishing and practicing the correct concept of political achievements.

The article reported the contents of the Sichuan Provincial Maritime Affairs Conference, focusing on 2026 as the first year of the 15th Five-Year Plan. Sichuan will strive to complete the investment of 6.5 billion yuan in waterway transportation, focusing on the improvement of high-grade waterways, port optimization and transportation service quality, so as to speed up the construction of a shipping center in the upper reaches of the Yangtze River. At the same time, it reviews the remarkable achievements made by Sichuan Water Transport in investment, waterway construction, cargo turnover and intelligent green water transport during the 14th five-year Plan period, and defines the key work arrangements in 2026 around policy guarantee, infrastructure construction, transportation services, safety management, green and intelligent development and people's livelihood.

During the Spring Festival transportation in 2026, the cargo volume of the Yangtze River trunk line exceeded 0.4 billion tons, an increase of 6.33 percent over the same period last year, sending 7.33 million passengers. The article focuses on the growth of key material transportation such as thermal coal and containers, as well as the strong recovery of water tourism passenger transport. At the same time, it expounds the measures taken by the waterway department to ensure the safety and efficiency of navigation through digital means, and summarizes the successful experience of achieving the goal of "zero accident" in water traffic during the Spring Festival.

Hainan Province issued the "Hainan Province Comprehensive Three-dimensional Transportation Network Planning Outline", proposing to basically build a modern high-quality comprehensive three-dimensional transportation network by 2035. With high-quality development as the theme, the plan focuses on building an international shipping hub, an international aviation hub and a sea and land gateway hub, highlighting the characteristics of Hainan's free trade port, and promoting "a game of chess in the province and the integration of the whole island". The focus includes building a western port cluster with Yangpu Port as the core, strengthening connectivity with the "Belt and Road" and RCEP countries, developing port industries and shipping services, improving the intelligent and green level of transportation infrastructure, and serving the country's new development pattern.

During the Fourth Session of the 14th National People's Congress, the Shanghai delegation submitted 3 proposals and 142 proposals. Among them, two proposals of the delegation focused on regional coordinated development and free trade zone legislation, and five proposals of the delegation involved offshore finance, open economy, construction of science and technology innovation center, construction of legal service system and digitalization of aviation trade. The remaining 137 pieces were jointly proposed by representatives, covering economy, science and technology, rule of law, society and other aspects, demonstrating Shanghai's positive role in the implementation of the national strategy.

The 32 member countries of the International Energy Agency have agreed to release 0.4 billion barrels of strategic oil reserves in response to the global oil supply shortage caused by the US and Israel's military attack on Iran. The release plan will be implemented step by step according to the situation of each country, and the specific plan will be announced later. IEA Director General Birol stressed that member countries hold more than 1.2 billion barrels of public emergency reserves and about 0.6 billion barrels of corporate reserves, and must maintain a reserve level of at least 90 days of net imports to cope with potential supply disruptions.

Jinjiang Shipping's wholly-owned subsidiary has signed four container ship construction contracts with a total amount of 0.82 billion yuan, and plans to deliver four 1800TEU ships in succession starting from June 2028. The move aims to increase the size of the fleet, optimize the capacity structure of Southeast Asian routes, support the expansion of "Silk Road Express" boutique routes, and promote the linkage of Northeast Asia and Southeast Asia regional routes to seize the growth opportunities of the Asian regional market.

In the first two months of 2026, the total value of China's import and export of goods trade reached 7.73 trillion billion yuan, an increase of 18.3 percent over the same period last year, making a strong start. Exports grew by 19.2 per cent and imports by 17.1 per cent. From the perspective of trading partners, trade with ASEAN, the European Union and the "Belt and Road" countries has increased significantly, while trade with the United States has declined. Private enterprises have performed outstandingly and have become the main force in foreign trade growth. Both exports and imports of mechanical and electrical products maintained rapid growth, indicating that China's foreign trade structure continued to optimize.