Silk Road Maritime Network Expands to 160 Routes, 153 Ports Worldwide
Beijing – September 16, 2026 -- China's Silk Road Maritime shipping network added 12 new routes at the 8th Silk Road Maritime International Cooperation Forum held in Xiamen from September 8-9, bringing the total to 160 named routes spanning 50 countries and 153 ports worldwide.
Gdansk becomes first European port with an officially named route
Poland's Gdansk Port, Europe's largest deep-water container terminal on the Baltic Sea, received its first officially designated Silk Road Maritime route at the forum. Zhang Bijun, chief representative of the Port of Gdansk Authority's Shanghai office, said Poland already handles roughly 80 percent of cargo entering the EU via the China-Europe Railway Express, and the new maritime route creates a two-way logistics channel that could speed Polish agricultural products and cosmetics into the Chinese market.