On the morning of June 28, the ocean-going ro-ro vessel “SAIC Anji Phoenix” carrying 1,360 domestically manufactured finished vehicles departed from the Longtan Port Area of Nanjing Port, bound for the Middle East. This marked the official launch of the Nanjing–Middle East ro-ro export shipping route, the second ocean-going ro-ro foreign trade route opened by Nanjing Port.
The new route fills the gap of direct ro-ro shipping services from Nanjing to the Middle East market and highlights the port’s prominent advantages in cargo consolidation and distribution systems. Bolstered by continuously optimized cargo collection and distribution capabilities and efficient multimodal transport connectivity, finished export vehicles can be efficiently consolidated at the port from urban clusters including Nanjing, Wuxi and Zhengzhou, as well as other Yangtze River Delta cities. This enables a seamless logistics model of “shipment right after factory departure and immediate loading upon port arrival”, greatly shortening the overall transportation cycle and substantially cutting comprehensive logistics costs.
All four new international shipping routes launched by Nanjing Port since 2026 have been put into operation, covering key international hub ports across South America, South Asia, North America and the Middle East. The launch of the first ro-ro foreign trade route in 2025 realized the breakthrough of Nanjing’s vehicle export business from scratch. The newly opened second route to the Middle East further upgrades Nanjing Port from a Yangtze River transit hub to an origin port with direct access to the global shipping network.
Currently, Nanjing Port is advancing the professional upgrading of its ro-ro terminals to improve vessel berthing and loading/unloading efficiency, and will further expand route coverage to the Middle East and emerging markets. In addition, the port will optimize customs clearance procedures and build a digital logistics information platform. These efforts will provide full-chain logistics support for vehicle export enterprises covering transportation from factories to overseas destination ports, and continuously reduce the comprehensive outbound logistics costs for Chinese automotive brands.
