Pudong announced a cooperation program with London in building an international shipping center as well as a financial industry base at the fifth International Shipping Strategy Development Seminar & Lujiazui Shipping Forum 2014 on Oct 14.

The program is a major one for China and Britain’s cooperation in the shipping sector, and is set up jointly by Shanghai’s Pudong New Area, China Merchants Group and Maritime London. It’s scheduled for operation in late 2015 and will gather several leading institutions and enterprises in shipping and financial sectors in Lujiazui, benefiting the shipping industry in China and Asia.

“The cargo handling capacity of Shanghai Harbor has remained No.1 worldwide over the past four years, with Pudong Port contributing more than 90 percent of that,” said Jian Danian, deputy head at the Pudong New Area, when talking about the oncoming collaboration.

In addition, top institutions, including the world's only independent source of maritime market information for trading and settlement, Baltic Exchange, and the largest marine energy transportation, storage and production company, Teekay Corporation, have a foothold in Shanghai.

As introduced at the forum, the shipping and financial base provides multiple services to enterprises and clients, such as coffee bars, libraries, online platforms, and related workshops and seminars, to help reduce office and communication costs. It will also offer help in recruitment and training of talent, policy support and media promotion.