Volumes at Shanghai port are expected to grow about 10 per cent annually over the next five years as more manufacturers shift plants to inland China to take advantage of lower labour costs, Bloomberg reported. The shift in manufacturing operations has boosted Shanghai’s shipping sector as cargo volumes increase along the Yangtze River.

Chen Xuyuan, president of Shanghai International Port (Group), said Shanghai’s container traffic may rise 12 per cent in 2011. In the first five months of this year, China’s largest port handled 12.7m containers, compared with 12.1m by Singapore.