In 2009, the State Council issued the Opinions on Accelerating the Development of Modern Service Industry and Advanced Manufacturing Industry in Shanghai and Making Shanghai an International Financial and Shipping Center (No.19 [2009] Document of the General Office of the State Council). The Opinions pointed out that the overall goal was to basically build Shanghai into an international shipping center with a high concentration of shipping resources, sound shipping service functions, a favorable environment in the shipping market, efficient modern logistics services and the ability to allocate global shipping resources by 2020. Today with the available data and international evaluations, we are going to check whether this phased goal has been achieved by 2020. A series of important objective data proves that the goal has been achieved The idea of building Shanghai into an international shipping center was proposed in the middle of 1990s, when the focus was placed on the building an international hub port represented by the construction of Yangshan Port, improvement of the Yangtze River Estuary Channel, and construction of an international cruise port as well as an airport. Since the issuance of No.19 [2009] Document of the General Office of the State Council, Shanghai has realized that the high concentration of shipping elements (especially the high-end shipping service elements) is one of the important signs of an international shipping center when benchmarking against the renowned international shipping centers. Therefore, the endeavor of building Shanghai into an international shipping center truly begun to adopt a “two-wheel-drive” development model. By the end of 2019, the Port of Shanghai had already had more container routes, flights, and wider coverage than any other port in the world. According to the Review of Maritime Transport released by UN, the Port of Shanghai ranked first in terms of global connectivity for nine consecutive years. Its container throughput topped the list for ten years in a row, reaching 43.303 million TEUs in 2019. The status as an international hub port had already been established. Shanghai’s cruise industry has achieved remarkable results after years of efforts. Shanghai Wusongkou International Cruise Terminal and the International Passenger Transport Center located on the North Bund have formed a combined home port for cruises in Shanghai, with cruise passenger traffic ranking first in Asia and fourth worldwide. In terms of airport development in Shanghai, the passenger throughput ranked fourth worldwide for four consecutive years. Pudong Airport’s air cargo and mail throughput ranked third worldwide for 12 consecutive years. All these data prove that Shanghai has become an international hub city ranking among the best in both Chinese mainland and the world as a sea and air hub. In terms of the development of the shipping service industry, many world-renowned organizations or global shipping companies have come to Shanghai. For example, a number of international (national) shipping functional organizations such as the United Nations International Maritime Organization Maritime Technology Cooperation Center Asia and China Shipowners’ Association have settled in Shanghai. Six of the world’s top ten ship management organizations, ten of the official members of the International Association of Classification Societies, 39 of the global top 100 shipping liners, and the world’s top five cruise lines have set up regional headquarters or branches in Shanghai. China COSCO Shipping Corporation Limited, which ranks first in terms of comprehensive capacity worldwide, has settled its headquarters in Shanghai. The container cranes produced by the world-renowned Shanghai Zhenhua Heavy Industry Co., Ltd. take up more than three-quarters of the international market. Regarding the development of high-end shipping service industry, Shanghai now has 11 shipping insurance operation centers and 3 reinsurance companies, ranking third after London and Singapore in terms of the market share of cargo insurance premiums. Shanghai Containerized Freight Index initiated by Shanghai Shipping Exchange has become one of the three major indexes in the global shipping market. Relying on the scientific advantages of Shanghai Maritime University, Shanghai International Shipping Institute has issued an analysis report on the port and shipping industry that has a huge influence on the shipping industry at home and abroad. The number of maritime law firms and partners in Shanghai ranks fourth worldwide, with its maritime arbitration cases accounting for 71.4% of the country. Meanwhile, we are pleased to see that a large number of international high-end shipping service organizations with global influence have gathered in Shanghai. As for improving the environment in the shipping market, Shanghai has introduced a series of reform and opening-up policies and issued a negative list involving the shipping field. The city has been continuously improving the port environment, and taken the lead in creating a single window, thus significantly improving the efficiency of the port service while reducing the cost. China’s ranking in the Doing Business 2020 of the World Bank moved up to the 31st place, with Shanghai taking up 55% of the statistical weight. In order to better promote the construction of the international shipping center, the Shanghai Municipal People’s Congress passed the Regulation of Shanghai Municipality on Advancing the Construction of the International Shipping Center in 2016, which provided legal basis guaranteeing for the sustainable development of the construction. According to the international evaluations, the construction of the international shipping center is basically completed On May 15, 2017, during his meeting with Ying Yong, Mayor of Shanghai, Kitack Lim, Secretary-General of the International Maritime Organization (IMO), the world’s most authoritative maritime organization, said that Shanghai had already grown into a world-class shipping center in terms of both hardware and software. The Baltic Exchange and Xinhua News Agency jointly began to compile the “Xinhua-Baltic International Shipping Center Development Index” from 2014. According to the index, the ranking of Shanghai International Shipping Center has been improving from the 7th place in 2014 to the 3rd place in 2020 (only after Singapore and London that are all internationally recognized shipping centers with global influence). In the Leading Maritime Nations of the World 2017 jointly issued by MENON, the world-renowned Norwegian shipping consulting agency, and DNV.GL, Shanghai ranked fourth after Singapore, Hamburg and Oslo. These authoritative international evaluations show that Shanghai’s status as an international shipping center has been recognized by the international shipping community. Therefore, it is obvious that the phased goal of basically completing the construction of an international shipping center has been achieved. (Zhen Hong, Secretary-General of Shanghai International Shipping Institute, Professor of Shanghai Maritime University)