(ECNS) -- China is improving coordination among its seaports, airports and land ports to help manufacturers ship goods overseas more efficiently, as exports of electric vehicles, lithium-ion batteries and other green products continue to expand.
China's goods trade totaled 39.94 trillion yuan (about $5.98 trillion) in the first nine months of 2026, up 18.8% year on year, official data showed. Exports of electric vehicles, lithium-ion batteries, and wind turbines and their components rose 72.3%, 36.4% and 22.4%, respectively.
China has 313 ports open to international trade, including 125 seaports, 86 airports and 102 land ports. Seaports account for more than 90% of cargo throughput at the country's ports. An increasingly integrated network connecting eastern, central and western China, alongside closer coordination among sea, land and air transport, is helping goods move more efficiently to overseas markets.
Xiamen Port in southeastern Fujian Province is one of China's major gateways for lithium-ion battery exports. It has handled more than 100 billion yuan worth of lithium-ion battery exports annually for three consecutive years.
To improve efficiency, Xiamen has streamlined export procedures, allowing cargo vessels to complete the process by coordinating with a single dedicated port agency rather than dealing with multiple departments separately.
Port authorities have also introduced maritime safety guidelines for containerized lithium-ion battery energy storage systems, helping address gaps in technical standards for transporting these products by sea. The measures are intended to improve shipping safety and efficiency as demand for energy storage equipment grows.
Xiamen has also strengthened cooperation with other ports, including Wuhan in Hubei Province and Ningbo in Zhejiang Province, enabling regulatory inspection results to be mutually recognized. This helps reduce duplicate declarations and repeated inspections, easing the burden on exporters.
The journey of China's battery exports, however, often begins far from the coast.
In Yibin, an inland city in Sichuan Province, lithium-ion batteries roll off production lines before being transported to coastal ports, including Shenzhen, Xiamen and Shanghai, for shipment to overseas markets.
Raw materials make the journey in the opposite direction. Lithium ore shipped from overseas arrives in Shanghai before traveling more than 2,800 kilometers upstream along the Yangtze River to Yibin.
There, the ore undergoes initial processing before being refined into lithium salts, which are used to produce cathode and anode materials. These materials are then processed into battery cells and assembled into power batteries.
From inland manufacturing hubs to coastal ports and onward to international markets, the supply chain illustrates how better port coordination and interconnected transport networks are helping Chinese manufacturers connect with global customers.
(By Zhang Dongfang)
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