(Yicai Global) May 31 -- A Maersk vessel with 27 containers will depart from Shanghai’s Yangshan Port to Tianjin tomorrow, marking a breakthrough in the opening up of China's shipping industry as it is the first coastal business for a foreign shipper in the country.

Maersk has 44 qualified ocean vessels on six routes for the business and will apply to use more routes and vessels in the future, Wu Bingqing, China president for the Danish shipping giant, told Yicai Global today.

The coastal shipping business, in which ocean vessels transport cargo between China's ports, was previously open only to local Chinese firms. Foreign vessels could only transit cargo from nearby ports in Busan, South Korea or Singapore.

Last November, China gave approval for foreign shippers registered in the Lingang New Area of the Shanghai Free Trade Zone to use Yangshan Port as a transshipment point for pilot coastal shipping. The first ports to open include Dalian, Tianjin and Qingdao. Maersk and Hong Kong-based Orient Overseas Container Line have been approved to operate the business since then.

“We're currently starting with coastal shipping for imports and hope to achieve two-way shipping for imports and exports soon, so that companies, ports and Chinese importers and exporters can all benefit from this policy,” Wu said.

Shanghai has ranked as the world's top port by container throughput for the last 12 years. In the first four months of this year, it maintained normal operations despite the resurgence of Covid-19, with throughput up 1.9 percent year-on-year to 15.35 million 20-foot equivalent units, according to Shanghai International Port Group.

Editors: Dou Shicong, Tom Litting