Hongkou district is home to the North Bund, a major hub for shipping services and corporate headquarters. More than 4,600 major shipping enterprises have established a presence within an area of a few square kilometers of the district.

Eighteen of the world's top 50 liner companies maintain offices here, including MSC (No 1 by capacity), COSCO Shipping Lines (part of the No 4-ranked COSCO Group), Hapag-Lloyd (No 5), and Pacific International Lines (No 12). Shipping companies based in Hongkou account for about 70 percent of the shipping capacity registered in Shanghai and about 80 percent of the city's international shipping capacity.

The district is home to an extensive network of shipping service providers, including 11 of the world's top 50 third-party logistics firms, four of the top 10 shipping brokerage firms, and Holman Fenwick Willan, one of the world's largest maritime law firms.

The China Shipowners Mutual Assurance Association, Asia's largest and the world's eighth-largest P&I insurer, moved its headquarters to Hongkou in 2016. The combined gross tonnage of its entered vessels now exceeds 104 million.

In October 2025, the China Classification Society announced plans to establish three centers in the North Bund for international ship inspection, maritime technical standards innovation, and international shipping technology exchange and cooperation.

Hongkou is also home to institutions involved in international shipping governance and market information. The International Chamber of Shipping opened its Shanghai representative office here in 2023. The Shanghai Shipping Exchange has developed a family of shipping indices spanning 23 categories and more than 200 sub-indices. The China Shipping Database contains more than 6 million data records, while the Shanghai Containerized Freight Index is a key pricing reference for the international container spot market.

China's first maritime ad hoc arbitration case involving two overseas parties was heard and decided here, and 13 shipping-related ad hoc arbitration cases handled in Shanghai have originated in Hongkou.

In February 2026, Hongkou, together with Shanghai International Port Group and China Unidata, began developing the Global Shipping and Trade Supply Chain Management Service Platform to support Shanghai's development as a global supply chain management center.

Hongkou's shipping sector is expanding its international reach and supporting Shanghai's development as an international shipping center.

Source: Shanghai Hongkou Media Center