Abstract: Under the circumstance of increasing serious challenges for the Shanghai Harbor, such as saturated handling capacity and depletion of coastlines with deep bathymetry, devoid of any deep shipping channels and docks of more than 20 m depth, etc, the transportation between the Changjiang River and outer ocean needs to be enhanced. The development of the Shanghai City and adjacent region is significantly restrained by land resource limitation and siltation in the current shipping channel. In order to reach the goal, set by State Council, to develop the International Shipping Centre by 2020, a new harbor is urgently needed to meet the increasing requirement of the economics in the Shanghai City and Changjiang River Basin, and to adapt the demand of large\|scale cargo ship. The sea-river exchange of transportation needs be optimized to enhance the leading effect of Shanghai Harbor.

Key words: Shanghai Harbor, Hengsha Shoal, necessity analysis