Qingdao's Shinan district, located along the city's southern coast, aims to expand its high-end service industry chains centered on shipping and trade by relying on its platform resources at the Shinan International Center for Shipping, Trade and Financial Innovation and the Qingdao International Shipping Exchange Center.

Shinan district is a shipping and trade center with more than 2,000 shipping logistics enterprises settling in, accounting for 70 percent of the city's total. The district has gathered over 90 percent of the city's shipping enterprises and 50 percent of 5A-level logistics enterprises. The district is also a financial center with its bank branches and financial enterprises and institutions accounting for over 60 percent of the city's total.

However, its shipping logistics industry still faces problems, including lack of core competitiveness and a majority of enterprises are in a downwind under price competition.

To better achieve high-quality development of the shipping, trade and finance industries, Shinan plans to set up a guiding fund for the shipping industry and to build a talent training base for international seafarers.

In this July, Shinan International Center for Shipping, Trade and Financial Innovation was officially put into service as a free, one-stop public platform for shipping enterprises.

Located in Qingdao COSCO Plaza, the center was designed to integrate various functions, including administrative services, information sharing, exhibitions, academic research and training, personnel exchanges and policy promotion. It is expected to help cut costs for enterprises, speed up the aggregation of shipping service enterprises, form a shipping industrial park and build an ecosystem for a large logistics industry.