At Shenzhen Port Global Supply Chain High-Quality Development Conference 2026
Unlocking Global Network Synergies to Build a Stable and Efficient Supply Chain
HONG KONG SAR - Media OutReach Newswire - 9 July 2026 - At the Shenzhen Port Global Supply Chain High-Quality Development Conference 2026, Midea Group (Midea), the global smart home and technology giant, and Hutchison Port Holdings Limited (Hutchison Ports), the world's leading port investor, developer, and operator, announced the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU). Guided by the shared vision of "Benefitting from New APEC Opportunities, Forging a New Future for Port and Shipping Cooperation", the two parties will deepen their global strategic partnership over the next two years, combining their respective strengths and resources to co-create a highly resilient, efficient, and mutually beneficial global supply chain ecosystem.
Sam Shi, General Manager of the International Supply Chain Capability Center of Midea Group (first from left) and Ken Chou, Group Commercial Director of Hutchison Ports (first from right), signed the MoU under the witness of Lewis Fu, President of Midea International (second from left) and Eric Ip, Group Managing Director of Hutchison Ports (second from right).
In response to the evolving global trade landscape, these two industry leaders are actively collaborating to bring together their strategic assets and global networks. Midea's expanding manufacturing footprint overseas seamlessly aligns with Hutchison Ports' extensive network of global port resources, establishing a perfect synergy particularly in key markets such as Thailand, Indonesia, Egypt, Vietnam and Mexico. As Midea accelerates its international expansion, its global logistics requirements are experiencing robust growth. This partnership will secure global maritime logistics corridors for Midea, ensuring stable and efficient delivery. Concurrently, Midea's continuously growing cargo volumes will significantly boost throughput across Hutchison Ports' terminals, in turn attracting more international shipping routes to call at its facilities.
Lewis Fu, President of Midea International, said "Under our globalisation strategy, securing reliable logistics services is fundamental to Midea's sustained business growth. We are delighted to deepen our collaboration with Hutchison Ports. Through practical initiatives, such as data integration and priority lanes during peak seasons, we can further enhance supply chain synergy and operational efficiency. This gives us full confidence in steadily achieving our global shipping target of 1.5 million TEUs by 2027."
Eric Ip, Group Managing Director of Hutchison Ports, said "As a world-leading technology enterprise, Midea Group is an incredibly valued strategic partner for Hutchison Ports. Midea's massive and rapidly growing export volumes will inject strong momentum into our terminals. By leveraging our high-efficiency operational standards, advanced digital capabilities, and tailored service frameworks, we will provide reliable logistical support for Midea's global expansion, establishing a new benchmark for industry collaboration."
Under the MoU, this deepened collaboration will initially be launched using Hutchison Ports' Yantian International Container Terminals (YANTIAN) as a key strategic anchor point, focusing on the following areas:
- Green Logistics and Digitalization Construction: Both parties will actively explore sustainable transport solutions that comply with local regulations and authorities. By integrating Midea's business system with YANTIAN's terminal operating system, they will achieve real-time information sharing and seamless workflow connectivity, significantly enhancing cargo handling and transport efficiency.
- Port Operation Support: Addressing industry choke points such as peak-season logistical delays and capacity constraints, Hutchison Ports will open priority lanes for Midea during peak seasons. This will expedite the pick-up, return, and reloading of Midea's cargo, ensuring highly efficient dispatch operations and reinforcing the stability of Midea's supply chain.
- Port Extension Services and Multimodal Transportation: The partners will jointly develop rail freight solutions connecting inland Chinese ports to YANTIAN, alongside comprehensive terminal logistics support including container yards, warehousing, and other value-added services.
Looking ahead, Midea and Hutchison Ports aim to progressively scale up the successful collaboration model established at YANTIAN across Hutchison Ports' vast global network. Both parties will continue to strengthen their strategic alignment on a global level, jointly exploring innovative green and digital logistics solutions to set a new benchmark for smarter, greener, and more resilient global supply chains.
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About Midea Group
Midea Group is a global technology group integrating seven business segments: Smart Home, Industrial Technologies, Building Technologies, KUKA, New Energy, Midea Healthcare, and ANNTO Logistics, fostering the parallel development of ToC and ToB businesses. Every year, it delivers satisfactory products and services to more than 500 million users worldwide, as well as key customers and strategic partners across various sectors. Currently, Midea operates more than 600 subsidiaries, 43 R&D centers and 65 major manufacturing bases worldwide, with business covering more than 200 countries and regions, and strives to become a global leader in smart homes and an enabler of smart manufacturing.
About Hutchison Ports
Hutchison Ports is the ports and related services division of CK Hutchison Holdings Limited. Hutchison Ports is the world's leading port investor, developer and operator with a network of port operations in 53 ports spanning 24 countries throughout Asia, the Middle East, Africa, Europe, the Americas and Australasia. Over the years, Hutchison Ports has expanded into other logistics and transportation-related businesses, including cruise ship terminals, distribution centres, rail services and ship repair facilities.
In 2025, Hutchison Ports handled a combined throughput of 90.1 million TEU.
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COLOMBO, SRI LANKA- Media OutReach Newswire - 9 July 2026 - On July 4, 2026, the cultural exchange event Encounter & Insight: Dialogue Between Ningbo, China and Colombo, Sri Lanka took place in Colombo.
On July 4, 2026, the cultural exchange event Encounter & Insight: Dialogue Between Ningbo, China and Colombo, Sri Lanka took place in Colombo.
Separated by thousands of miles, the two millennia-old port cities reconnected, leveraging their ports as a bond and cultural exchanges as a cohesive force to hold in-depth talks on integrated port-city development and bilateral economic and trade connectivity.
This cross-Indian Ocean dialogue echoes the ancient Maritime Silk Road while charting a brand-new outbound development path. As a pivotal starting port of the ancient Maritime Silk Road, Ningbo is building a new global trade landscape powered by smart manufacturing.
A thousand years ago, merchant vessels from Mingzhou Port set sail southward loaded with Yue Kiln celadon porcelain, passing through Ceylon to deliver Oriental crafts across the Indian Ocean coasts. Precious gemstones and spices traveled the same sea route back to regions south of the Yangtze River, laying the groundwork for the earliest cultural exchange between the two ports through trade. Today, the cargo carried by giant cargo ships has undergone a dramatic transformation. Beyond traditional daily necessities, intelligent equipment, digital home appliances and industrial robots now dominate shipments.
Official statistics show that Ningbo's exports of intelligent equipment, including mechanical arms and industrial robots, hit 440 million yuan in 2025, surging more than 40% year-on-year. From January to May this year, Ningbo's exports of mechanical and electrical products maintained steady growth, reaching 247 billion yuan, a 4.1% year-on-year increase and accounting for 58.0% of the city's total export volume. The new energy foreign trade sector saw explosive growth, with exports of new energy vehicles, lithium batteries, and photovoltaic products jumping 138.4% year-on-year, with electric vehicle exports skyrocketing 215.9%. Smart manufactured goods are continuously expanding the scope of Ningbo's foreign trade.
Complementing the Colombo forum, an exhibition highlights Ningbo's outstanding going-global enterprises and their products, vividly illustrating the profound shift in Ningbo's trade structure.
Alongside time-honored Maritime Silk Road staples such as celadon porcelain and silk, Ningbo's smart manufactured products—including AI translation glasses, intelligent outdoor gear and digital small home appliances—occupy prominent display spaces across the venue. In Sri Lanka, Ningbo smart water meters are widely adopted nationwide, while handheld cooling fans and intelligent kitchen appliances have entered ordinary households.
Leveraging Colombo Port's transshipment advantages, massive volumes of Ningbo smart manufactured goods are distributed onward to Europe, the Middle East and beyond. What Ningbo exports today is no longer mere commodities, but a complete outbound solution integrating technology, brand value and after-sales services.
Faced with mounting challenges including homogeneous global market competition and rising trade barriers, Ningbo's manufacturing sector has abandoned the old model of low-cost OEM production, relying on intelligent transformation to consolidate its competitive edge in overseas markets.
Over more than a decade of digital transformation efforts, Ningbo has achieved full digital upgrading of all industrial enterprises above designated size. A large number of local factories have built unmanned black-light workshops and flexible production lines, escaping vicious price competition through continuous technological iteration. Represented by five specialized, sophisticated, distinctive and innovative enterprises dubbed Ningbo's "Five Little Tigers"—famous for their core proprietary technologies, including highly sophisticated visual inspection equipment, heat-resistant materials, sun-proof coatings, puncture-proof materials and self-drilling fasteners—these niche manufacturers have developed differentiated technical routes and full-spectrum production capacity, cementing irreplaceable competitiveness for Ningbo smart manufacturing on global markets.
Beyond trade expansion, Ningbo has built a supporting cultural communication system to ensure "products go global, accompanied by local culture".
The launch of Sri Lanka's first "One-Meter Cultural Space" cultural station during the Colombo event marks a tangible milestone of Ningbo's go-global initiative. Built on enterprises' overseas outlets, these miniature cultural exhibition halls integrate intangible cultural heritage crafts, urban stories and smart products, enabling overseas clients to experience cutting-edge manufacturing while gaining insight into Ningbo's profound cultural heritage.
During the twin-city story-sharing session, Ningbo entrepreneurs based in Sri Lanka and local designers blending Chinese and Sri Lankan aesthetics shared stories of bilateral exchanges. Economic and trade ties have evolved into a bond for people-to-people communication, bridging divides in cross-cultural trade.
From Tang-dynasty celadon porcelain sailing across the Indian Ocean to intelligent equipment shipping to every corner of the globe, Ningbo, the ancient Maritime Silk Road port, has preserved its enduring gene of openness. Where exchanges once relied purely on commodity trade, today smart manufacturing underpins a stable, diversified and high-value-added global trade network.
The Ningbo-Colombo dialogue stands as a vivid microcosm of this transformation: the port still links lands and seas, yet the core of its trade has undergone a full intelligent upgrade.
Rooted in its historical legacy as a key Maritime Silk Road hub, Ningbo has consolidated its industrial foundation through a decade of digital development, expanded global market reach via worldwide port networks, and softened trade cooperation through cultural exchanges. This brand-new outbound shipping route forged by smart manufacturing has not only reshaped the city's foreign trade landscape, but also delivered a replicable port-city development model for Chinese manufacturing to go global.
Hashtag: #NingboSmartManufacturing #MaritimeSilkRoad #GlobalTrade
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