How do Hainan companies get a taste of the sweet, sweet profits from a direct shipping route bringing Indonesian coconuts to the island? Wan Xindong, marketing director of Hainan Dahaomai Food Company, which has been in the coconut processing industry for over a decade, gave the route a happy thumbs up. He noted that compared with traditional shipping options, the transportation time has been reduced from 40 to just 7 days, the loss rate has dropped from 8% to under 3%, and coconut freshness has improved by 30%.

This regularly operated coconut shipping route has brought fresh, sustainable ‘living water’ to nourish Hainan’s coconut industry chain development. This international route from Indonesia’s Palu Port to Hainan’s Yangpu Port, which began trial operation from last November, has only been open for a little more than half a year, but continues to heat up the cross-border transportation market. Many Hainan food processing companies are competing to book shipping space in order to save time and money, and are benefiting from fresh coconuts that arrive in better condition on a more regular schedule. As of June, 2025, this new shipping route had already transported over 50,000 tons of coconuts to Hainan.

A container ship docked at Yangpu International Container Terminal. (Photo: Hainan Daily)

The growing demand for cross-border trade has resulted in major breakthroughs for Hainan’s international shipping network. Huang Peng, deputy director of the Department of Transport of Hainan Province, explained that Hainan’s international shipping network continues to broaden thanks to the province’s position as a hub on the 21st-Century Maritime Silk Road, along with comprehensive advantages including policies, location, and open economy. This new shipping network - reaching oceans near and far - facilitates domestic and international trade, helping Hainan develop into an important hub of China’s ‘dual circulation’ development, which allows the domestic and international markets to reinforce each other. As of now, 72 container shipping routes are in stable operation across the province.

Backed by the colossal domestic market, Hainan has opened 30 domestic trade routes, continued to increase the number of routes reaching east and north China, and strengthened high-volume branch lines accessing ports in the Beibu Gulf and the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area. In order to strengthen economic and trade ties with the Greater Bay Area, Hainan’s Yangpu Port has joined Shenzhen’s Shekou Port and Guangdong’s Zhanjiang Port in implementing a ‘parallel port’ logistics module, creating a ‘circular route’ across the sea. This move has fostered synergy between logistics, trade, industrial development, and economic growth.

Located in the center of the RCEP region, the Hainan Free Trade Port (FTP) enjoys unique advantages for trade with other RCEP member countries. To this end, Hainan is working to develop more near-sea international trade routes, creating a dense route network covering the ten ASEAN countries and South Asia. In addition, the opening of direct shipping routes between Yangpu and Abu Dhabi, the east and west coasts of the United States, as well as India has filled the intercontinental shipping route gap, rapidly bringing more ‘Made in Hainan’ products to global markets.

With an increasing number of shipping routes across the globe, international trade companies in Hainan are raking it in. A key Hainan foreign trade company, Hainan Gold Hongye Paper, prefers to ship products to the Middle East on the direct Yangpu - Abu Dhabi route. Why? Without detours, shipping times are halved in comparison with other routes, saving the company a minimum of 200,000 yuan (nearly $28,000) per trip.

Over 80% of international trade is carried out through maritime transport, which forms the main artery of Hainan's foreign trade industry. In 2024, Hainan's total foreign trade was valued at a total of 277.65 billion yuan ($38.7 billion), a year-on-year increase of 20%, with exports exceeding 100 billion yuan ($14 billion) for the first time, up 43.5% over the previous year. Over the first five months of 2025, Hainan’s total import and export figures exceeded 101.7 billion yuan ($14.2 billion).

In the future, Hainan will continue to optimize the FTP’s comprehensive logistics supply chain system, which combines shipping with ports and logistics, further promoting free and convenient shipping options and smoothing logistics channels. With these measures, products from all over the world are expected to be traded more freely through the FTP, raising the bar for high-quality development across the Chinese island province.