China's waterway freight turnover reached nearly 15 trillion tonne-kilometers in 2025, accounting for more than half of the country's comprehensive transport system, with multiple waterway transport indicators ranking first in the world, a transport official said Tuesday.
During the 14th Five-Year Plan period (2021-2025), China added 469 berths capable of handling vessels of 10,000 tonnes or above, bringing the total number of such berths to 3,061, said Li Xinghu, vice minister of transport, at a press conference.
Three world-class port clusters in the Bohai Rim, the Yangtze River Delta and the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area were basically completed.
The country also added 2,500 kilometers of high-grade waterways, bringing the total to 18,500 kilometers.
In 2025, China's international shipping volume accounted for one-third of the global total. The country's port cargo throughput reached 18.3 billion tonnes, container throughput stood at 354 million twenty-foot equivalent units (TEUs), and the scale of Chinese-owned shipping fleet reached 490 million deadweight tonnes, all ranking first globally, according to Li.
China was home to eight of the world's top 10 ports by cargo throughput in 2025, and among the top 10 ports by container throughput, six are in China.
In 2025, China's ports handled 13.49 million TEUs of rail-water intermodal container transport, nearly doubling the figure from 2020.
As of 2025, China had put 60 automated terminals into operation nationwide, including 30 automated container terminals, accounting for 27 percent of the global total, Li said.
The fastest single-crane operating efficiency at the automated terminals of Shanghai Port and Qingdao Port exceeds 60 containers per hour, representing the world's highest port handling efficiency.
China's water transport leads world in multiple indicators in 2025
Chinese President Xi Jinping and Seychelles' President Patrick Herminie on Tuesday exchanged congratulations on the 50th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between their two countries.
In his congratulatory message, Xi said that since the establishment of diplomatic ties 50 years ago, no matter how the international landscape evolves, China and Seychelles have always trusted each other and firmly adhered to mutual support, with friendship between the two countries rock-solid.
Xi said he believes that as long as both sides stay true to the original aspiration of establishing diplomatic relations and proceed side by side, the path for the development of China-Seychelles relations will become broader and broader, and the prospects for bilateral cooperation will be brighter.
Noting that he attaches great importance to the development of relations between the two countries, Xi said he is willing to work with Herminie to take the 50th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations as a new starting point, carry forward the traditional friendship, deepen mutually beneficial cooperation within the framework of high-quality Belt and Road cooperation and the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation (FOCAC), promote common development, continuously lead the China-Seychelles strategic partnership toward new heights, and bring more benefits to the people of both countries.
Herminie said in his message that since the establishment of diplomatic ties 50 years ago, the relations between Seychelles and China have steadily developed on the basis of mutual respect, mutual trust and common development.
China has always been a valuable partner of Seychelles and has provided much support for Seychelles in improving people's well-being and achieving national development goals, he said.
Noting that Seychelles firmly adheres to the one-China principle, Herminie said Seychelles is willing to continue strengthening cooperation within the framework of Belt and Road cooperation and the FOCAC, and continuously deepen bilateral relations.
Xi exchanges congratulations with Seychelles' president on 50th anniversary of ties
