On May 21, the People's Government of Guangzhou Municipality and Maersk Group signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) at the Guangzhou Port Center to enhance their strategic partnership.
According to the MOU, Guangzhou and Maersk will leverage their expertise in port planning, construction, management, and international container shipping to create a powerful alliance that complements each other's strengths. Both sides will enhance resource sharing across multiple areas, including port capacity optimization, route expansion, and business coordination, while continuously increasing end-to-end logistics cooperation. Additionally, they will deepen joint efforts in green port and shipping, smart port and shipping, navigation capability enhancement, and emergency response system construction.
Guangzhou is actively advancing its three-year action plan (2024-2026) for the fourth phase of its development as an international shipping hub. By 2026, Guangzhou Port's cargo throughput is expected to exceed 700 million tons, and its container throughput to surpass 27 million twenty-foot equivalent units (TEUs). With plans to create world-class operational efficiency through an optimized port and shipping business environment, over 15 billion yuan will be invested in major port infrastructure projects, which will provide higher-quality and more efficient services for international shipping companies like Maersk.
As a critical node in global shipping networks, Guangzhou has maintained a partnership with Maersk since the company established its representative office in the city in 1984. Over the past four decades, the company has worked closely with Guangzhou to develop a logistics gateway connecting South China and the rest of the world.
In 2025, to accelerate the innovation of shipping operation models and establish a future-oriented ocean logistics strategy, Maersk, in cooperation with Hapag-Lloyd, launched their "Gemini" cooperation network, positioning the Port of Nansha as one of only two South China ports within this network. In February and March, the port demonstrated operational excellence with on-time arrival rates exceeding 90%, outperforming its initial targets. Maersk firmly believes that Guangzhou will continue to lead profound changes in the global trade landscape.
As a Fortune Global 500 company serving 135 countries and regions with over 200 terminals and customer service centers, Maersk currently operates 16 international container shipping routes through Guangzhou Port. The company achieved a container throughput of 1.331 million TEUs in 2024, and 519,000 TEUs in the first quarter of 2025, marking a year-on-year increase of 30.6%.