The Port of Shanghai, the largest port open to international navigation in China, is situated in the east of China and at the midway of China's coast line, where east-west water borne transportation converge, comprises a deep-sea port and a river port. In 2006, with a total of 537 million tons of cargo transported, it became the world's busiest port by cargo tonnage for the first time.

The Port of Shanghai is a critically important transport hub for the Yangtze River region and the most important gateway for foreign trade. It serves the Yangtze economically developed hinterland of Anhui, Jiangsu, Zhejiang and Henan provinces with its dense population, strong industrial base and developed agricultural sector.

In 2008, the container throughput increased by 7%, and cargo throughput increased by 3%. In 2008, the cargo throughput in Shanghai Port ranked the first, while that of container ranked the second. Electrical ID for container causes “transportation revolution”, which helps to strengthen the position of Shanghai Port as an international port. Focusing on the core business, based on the port resources and the cooperation with local ports in Yangtze River Delta, Shanghai Port carries out Yangtze Strategy to control the cargos on Yangtze River Waterway and increase the share in container market, and moves to the international market smoothly through Northeast Asia Strategy and Global Strategy. The financial crisis put pressure on Shanghai Port Group, who is leading the construction of Shanghai International Shipping Center. Through digging the internal potential, lifting the efficiency, capital operation, construction of integrated transportation system and service system, integrated waterway, road and railway transportation system, the construction of shanghai shipping center is well underway.

The port of Shanghai includes 5 major working zones:

Yangtze River estuary
Huangpu River mouth at Wusongkou (Chinese: 吴淞口)
Waigaoqiao (外高桥) in Pudong
Yangshan deep water port (Hangzhou Bay & East China Sea)
Pudong coastline (East China Sea)

The Yangshan deep-water port (洋山深水港) is a new port in Hangzhou Bay south of Shanghai. Built to circumvent growth limitations for the Port of Shanghai as a result of shallow waters, it allows berths with depths of up to 15 metres to be built, and is capable of handling the largest container ships today. The port achieves this by building on the offshore islands of Greater and Lesser Yangshan (part of the Zhoushan archipelago), which have been amalgamated by land reclamation and connected to the mainland via the Donghai Bridge, the latter of which was opened on 1 December 2005 as the third-longest bridge in the world at 32.5 km in length.

In 2000/2001, the decision was made to commence construction on the first of four phases. The first two phases are currently operational, with nine berths in total along a 3 km quayside. The first phase, which commenced operations in 2004, can accommodate 2.2 million containers annually and includes 10 quay cranes. The second phase was opened in December 2006, and comprises 72 hectares with 15 quay cranes.

The third phase, to be opened in stages, will be completed by 2010 with seven berths, with phase 3A scheduled to be opened by the end of 2007. When fully completed in 2012, the port will have four phases in operation with 30 berths capable of handling 15 million TEUs annually.