Key Chinese ports such as Shanghai could boost container volumes and revenues if they are allowed to let foreign carriers transship international cargo at Chinese hub ports, according to Tom Behrens-Sorensen, Co-founder and Partner at Navisino Advisors (Beijing). He added that stakeholders including Shanghai International Port Group in Shanghai “have been lobbying for it to happen”. Under current cabotage rules, foreign shipping lines are banned from transporting domestic cargo, similar to the situation in the United States. China’s cabotage regulations include moving international containers from ports such as Qingdao or Yantai and transshipping them through Shanghai for onward shipment overseas. Behrens-Sorensen said the change would bring economic benefits for ports and shipping lines. “The potential savings would run into billions of U.S. dollars.” Shanghai’s Yangshan port was an “obvious place to run trials where it could happen” because it was offshore and a controlled environment. Container ships operating Asia-Europe services from Bohai ports such as Qingdao and Tianjin would be able to load U.S.-bound cargo and transship it at Yangshan to North American services. “Today they can’t do that,” Behrens-Sorensen said. Charles de Trenck, Founder of consultancy Transport Trackers, said transshipment had not been on ports’ radar “because volume growth was so strong”, but with throughput increases dipping below 10% to 15% in recent years, “it is now making more sense as a complementary strategy”, the South China Morning Post reports.