Port Hub · Port of Nanjing
Depending on how you count the delta ports, Nanjing is the biggest inland port on the planet — 208 km of Yangtze shoreline where river cargo has moved since A.D. 229.
The Port of Nanjing controls 208 km of riverbank — 110 km on the north shore, 98 on the south — across six public and three industrial port areas. It passed 191 million tonnes of cargo back in 2012, and its container business now runs at roughly 300,000–380,000 TEU a month, edging up about 3% since 2024.
Deepwater dredging on the lower Yangtze lets ocean-class ships work this far inland, which is why Nanjing behaves like a coastal port with a river address: crude, chemicals, containers and grain all move directly to sea without transshipment.
In December 2024 the Oiltanking Terminal #9 in Jiangbei New Area won approval for international trade — the first new foreign-trade berth in Nanjing since 2019. Days later the 50,000-tonne World Navigator docked with 36,050 tonnes of methanol, unloading at up to 1,500 tonnes an hour.
For the travel economy this reads as connectivity: every foreign-trade berth is another reason for business hotels in Jiangbei, another cluster of weekend visitors, and another argument for direct flights out of Lukou.
You will not “visit” this port as a tourist — you will read it from the bridges and riverside promenades instead. Take the river seriously in your planning: it shaped the city’s districts, and the north-bank Jiangbei side is where Nanjing’s next decade of openings is headed.
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