A number of major Chinese trade hubs have expanded international routes to diversify their overseas markets, with Shenzhen in South China's Guangdong Province revealing a plan to develop international maritime routes to Europe, Oceania, and Africa, in order to increase the frequency of cross-border e-commerce shipping lines.

Shenzhen has issued a plan with 20 measures to promote the high-quality development of services and digital trade, according to an article posted on the official WeChat account of the Shenzhen Government Information Office on Wednesday.

The plan covers four areas - promoting the efficient flow of trade resources, innovating and developing digital trade, comprehensively enhancing services trade, and improving the support system. These measures aim to accelerate the enhancement of Shenzhen's international competitiveness in services trade and digital trade, providing key support for the city's rapid development into a globally influential economic center and a modern international metropolis.

Notably, in order to improve the services trade, the plan stressed the need to expand international maritime routes to Europe, Oceania, and Africa, and increase the frequency of cross-border e-commerce shipping lines. In addition, it will expand the scale of bonded fuel oil and liquefied natural gas bunkering services for international vessels, driving the development of diverse upstream and downstream business entities, according to stcn.com.

Meanwhile, the plan encourages the export of full-chain services for digital cities and smart cities, targeting markets such as ASEAN, the Middle East, Latin America, Africa, and Southern Europe. It will support municipal state-owned enterprises, centrally-administered enterprises in Shenzhen, and outstanding private enterprises to export technologies, services, and standards in areas such as digital energy, engineering construction, infrastructure, and commercial operations, per the report.

"From expanding the opening of value-added telecommunications to encouraging the export of services, Shenzhen's fresh policy again highlights the efforts to open its door wider by leveraging its advantageous sectors such as the digital economy," Li Yong, a senior research fellow at the China Association of International Trade, told the Global Times on Wednesday.

Li also noted that the measures will provide a guide for foreign trade-related enterprises to diversify global markets amid growing external uncertainties, thus further promoting the exports of the city and surrounding regions, including the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area.

According to the Shenzhen Special Zone Daily, Shenzhen Port added 14 international liner routes in the first quarter of this year, bringing the total to nearly 300 routes, covering more than 300 ports in more than 100 countries and regions worldwide.

From January to April, six new international routes were added in Shenzhen's Yantian Port. Currently, the port's route network covers major trade regions including Europe, the Americas and Asia, with more than 10 cross-border e-commerce shipping lines, per the report.

In addition to Shenzhen, multiple major trade hubs are also expanding their international routes to explore more markets.

Since May, Qingdao Port in East China's Shandong Province has added three new routes to South America, Central and South America, and the Middle East, connecting to partner countries and regions of the Belt and Road Initiative. The port's route network reached more than 180 countries and regions worldwide, according to a report on chinanews.com.

Meanwhile, Dalian Port in Northeast China's Liaoning Province has launched new shipping routes to places such as South Africa, the Mediterranean and Mexico since the beginning of the year, establishing global maritime channels for automobile brands such as FAW, BMW Brilliance and Chery, the Liaoning Port Group said in an online post on Tuesday.

Amid challenges to multilateral trade, various cities in China are actively exploring new overseas markets, which helps mitigate uncertainties in the external environment while continuously improving the trade structure, making China's foreign trade more resilient and dynamic, Li said.

(Source: Global Times)