Shanghai and Hamburg, two leading port cities in the world, signed an agreement on harbor cooperation here Monday evening.

The agreement covers exchanges and cooperation between the two cities in harbor planning, management, construction and information technology, according to Xu Peixing, director of the Shanghai Port Management Bureau.

Xu said the agreement will help Shanghai and its German counterpart to go hand in hand to cope with challenges facing the shipping industry.

Shanghai and Hamburg became sister cities in 1986. The annual cargo throughput via the Shanghai port is 300 million tons and container throughput is about 11.3 million TEUs each year, both ranking third in the world. Hamburg is the largest port city in Germany, the second largest port in Europe and one of the top ten ports in the world.

There are currently 320 Chinese enterprises based in Hamburg.

Source: Xinhua