Business leaders from China and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations are looking to further strengthen their cooperation and take the business opportunities brought by the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership agreement. They made the remark in Nanning, Guangxi Zhuang autonomous region, during the ongoing 19th China-ASEAN Expo, which is themed on sharing new opportunities from the RCEP agreement and jointly advancing version 3.0 of the China-ASEAN Free Trade Area. The expo, which opened on Friday and runs through Monday, is expected to help reinforce cooperation on the two sides" industrial and supply chains and enhance overall regional competitiveness, they said.

SHANGHAI -- China"s index of export container transport declined in the week ending on Sept 9, according to the Shanghai Shipping Exchange. The average China Containerized Freight Index (CCFI) went down 3.8 percent to 2,722.77 from the previous week, according to the exchange. The sub-index for the Persian Gulf/Red Sea service led the decrease with a week-on-week drop of 12.7 percent. Bucking the trend, the sub-reading for the Australia/New Zealand service rose 0.8 percent from a week earlier. The CCFI tracks spot and contractual freight rates from Chinese container ports for 12 shipping routes across the globe, based on data

An empty container transportation center began operations at the Shanghai port on Saturday. With an annual throughput of 3 million twenty-foot equivalent units or TEUs, the center is expected to further strengthen the world"s largest container port's handling capability, boost domestic and foreign trade, and solidify Shanghai's status as an international shipping center, official sources said. Located in the Yangshan Special Comprehensive Bonded Zone, the empty container transportation center for Northeast Asia is key to the port's capability to allocate resources across the world, according to Gu Jinshan, chairman of Shanghai International Port Group, the sole operator of the public