Missão Porto & Mar expands discussions on urban planning and logistics in Shanghai, China

Giant scale models helped the delegation understand Shanghai’s accelerated growth process over recent decades (Alexandre Lopes/AT)

After a morning marked by immersion in the largest container port on the planet, the Missão Internacional Porto & Mar 2026 continued on Thursday afternoon (28) with agendas focused on urban planning, strategic development and institutional relations in Shanghai, China.

The first visit of the afternoon took Brazilian business leaders, executives and authorities to the Shanghai Urban Planning Exhibition Center, a venue considered one of the main showcases of Chinese urban planning and the city’s transformation over recent decades.

The site presents, in an interactive and technological way, the historical evolution of Shanghai — from its earliest urban centers to the consolidation of the city as one of the world’s largest financial and logistics metropolises.

Throughout the visit, members of the mission had access to giant scale models, digital panels and projections showing not only the city’s accelerated growth, but also expansion and development plans projected for the coming years. The scale of Chinese urban planning drew the delegation’s attention, as did the country’s capacity to execute large-scale projects.

The presentations demonstrated how Shanghai structured its expansion by combining infrastructure, mobility, port development, urban verticalization and logistics integration — pillars that helped transform the city into one of the world’s largest economic centers.

The visit also reinforced a perception that has accompanied the mission since its first days in China: Chinese development is driven by long-term strategies strongly integrated among government, infrastructure, technology and urban planning.

The Shanghai Urban Planning Exhibition Center is known precisely for presenting this strategic vision of the city. One of the highlights of the venue is the gigantic scale model of Shanghai, considered one of the world’s largest urban representations in scale.

Digital presentation at the Shanghai Urban Planning Exhibition Center provides an immersive experience for visitors (Alexandre Lopes/AT)

Relationship building

Next, the delegation proceeded to the headquarters of Cosco Shipping, one of the world’s largest maritime and logistics companies. The agenda focused mainly on institutional relations and business networking, enabling the exchange of experiences and networking opportunities between Brazilian representatives and executives from the Chinese company.

During the visit, mission members participated in an interactive presentation about the company’s operations and received information regarding Cosco’s global activities in maritime transportation, international logistics and port integration.

Founded through the merger of major Chinese maritime sector giants, Cosco Shipping has consolidated itself as one of the world’s largest maritime transport operators, operating in dozens of countries and controlling one of the largest global fleets of cargo ships and container vessels.

The company maintains a strategic presence on international routes and also has strong commercial ties with the Brazilian market, especially in operations related to commodity exports, container shipping and international maritime trade.

Throughout the meeting, mission representatives highlighted the importance of institutional and business rapprochement with major Chinese groups, reinforcing one of the central pillars of the Missão Internacional Porto & Mar 2026: expanding international connections and fostering business opportunities between Brazil and China.

After intense days focused on technology, artificial intelligence, autonomous mobility and port infrastructure, Thursday’s agendas (28) reinforced another aspect observed by the Brazilian delegation throughout the trip: China’s ability to integrate strategic planning, logistics, urban planning and economic expansion on a gigantic scale.

Flavio da Rocha Costa, Rogério Oliveira, Luiz Araújo, Gabriela Costa and Maxwell Rodrigues (Reproduction)

“The Port of Shanghai is impressive because they built everything we saw in approximately three years. They are the world leaders in container handling and already have plans to increase volume by 10 million containers over the next three years. Today, all of Brazil handles around 14 million. They are growing the equivalent of an entire Brazil in three years. We have much to learn from them”, said Flavio da Rocha Costa, director of Eldorado Brasil Celulose.

“That is the key word: planning. In China, they place fundamental value on this condition. They project what they want, define the needs and plan so that everything can be executed, allowing everyone to benefit from the final result achieved. They create short-, medium- and long-term plans. As a result, there are fewer bottlenecks, greater productivity, more efficiency and higher quality”, said Rogério Oliveira, Business Director at Transtec World.

“We are learning two important factors that make China successful. First, planning. Second, the art of executing what is planned. We were able to see this during our visit to the Yangshan Deep-Water Port Complex. We visited this terminal 15 years ago, and the Chinese have continued innovating, especially in technology. In its Phase 4, the terminal is fully automated”, said Luiz Araujo, CEO of Ecoporto.

“Planning involves everything we see functioning in Shanghai. During our visit to the world’s largest port, we observed an efficiency that has been helping it break record after record. This happens because of planning, which is not limited to operational terms, but especially to access infrastructure, which is a challenge we face in Brazil regarding our port terminals”, said Gabriela Costa, Executive Director of the Associação de Terminais Portuários Privados (ATP).

“Being at the world’s largest port is a privilege for very few, and that is what Grupo Tribuna provided. Everything in Shanghai is impressive, especially China’s strategy. At the Port of Shanghai, beyond the high cargo handling volume, we could clearly see that China is deeply committed to innovation and technology, with systems and equipment developed by themselves”, said Maxwell Rodrigues, port affairs consultant for Grupo Tribuna .