China-France green shipping corridor signed to ‘advance’ zero-carbon shipping routes

China and France have put pen to paper on an agreement to establish a green shipping corridor with the aim of accelerating efforts within the maritime decarbonization landscape, French classification society Bureau Veritas (BV) has revealed.

As disclosed, the green shipping corridor is envisaged to be set up between China’s Ningbo Zhoushan Port and the French HAROPA Port.

The initiative was unveiled at a recent event focused on the creation of sustainable global shipping solutions that was co-hosted by the Chinese Ministry of Transport and the Shanghai Municipal People’s Government.

BV has highlighted that the core focus of the gathering was exploring maritime sustainability and investigating potential paths for future collaboration between the two nations, with the maritime industry acting as a focal point of the discussions.

According to the classification society, the event had produced 30 “major” outcomes, encompassing a seven-point framework of the green shipping corridor initiative.

In addition to aiding the development of the corridor network, the framework will reportedly also support clean energy-powered vessels, near-zero-carbon ports, as well as environmentally friendly fuel supply and certification systems.

As informed, the corridor between HAROPA Ports and Ningbo-Zhoushan represents a collaboration between Bureau Veritas, CMA CGM, Zhejiang Provincial Seaport Investment & Operation Group, HAROPA Ports, MSC Group, MSC Terminal Investment Limited, and the China Waterborne Transport Research Institute.

The deal is said to build on a memorandum of understanding (MoU) that was inked at the recently held Maritime Silk Road Forum in China.

“This corridor will model international cooperation in green shipping, aligning with climate goals and enhancing China-Europe maritime ties,” Matthieu de Tugny, Executive Vice President, Industrials and Commodities, Bureau Veritas, commented.

Green shipping corridors have gained a lot of traction worldwide, with the number of such projects jumping by 40%, according to a report published in September last year by the Getting to Zero Coalition. Chinese ports and organizations have not fallen behind this trend.

At the end of October 2025, the Ministry of Transport of the Republic of Singapore and the Ministry of Transport of the People’s Republic of China formalized a green shipping corridor initiative between the two nations, following the earlier established municipality-level and provincial-level projects with Tianjin and Shandong.

Similarly, in August this year, the Port of Barcelona and Shanghai International Port Group (SIPG) joined forces to intensify the connections between both ports and share knowledge in the areas of digitalization, standardization, and decarbonization of maritime transport.

In May, Ningbo Zhoushan Port penned contracts with Germany’s Port of Hamburg and the Port of Wilhelmshaven and Spain’s Valenciaport regarding another corridor agreement.