Recently, the ship PAN EDELWEISS loaded with 11,600 cubic meters of equipment products departed from Yantai Port, a subsidiary of Shandong Port Group (SPG), bound for Saudi Arabia. The voyage marked the official opening of the port's general cargo route linking Yantai and the Middle East, a new seaborne channel to sell Chinese-made products directly to global markets.

Since the establishment of SPG in 2019, Yantai Port has seized new policies and opportunities presented by Belt and Road cooperation and the implementation of the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership agreement, and launched several direct general cargo shipping routes linking Yantai and Africa, Southeast Asia, South America and Europe. The annual delivery volume via the China-Africa liner ships now exceeds 1.8 million metric tons, the annual transportation capacity via the Southeast Asia liner ships surpasses 1.5 million tons, and the annual transportation capacity via the general cargo liner ships exceeds five million tons and sets new records. Yantai Port has made efforts to stabilize industrial and supply chains and foreign trade and smooth out international and domestic dual circulation.

Yantai Port loaded 90 engineering machines and 50-plus steel structures 18 hours ahead of schedule for the PAN EDELWEISS voyage, a record in terms of handling efficiency of large equipment The feat won the port high appraisal from carriers and cargo owners and its status as "China's general cargo terminal with the best services" has been widely acknowledged by the port industry.

Since the beginning of 2022, Yantai Port has closely followed SPG's development pace of promoting all-round port integration. Its fame as the port of departure for the China-Africa Two-way Logistics Golden Channel, northern China's important energy import and export base, northern China's largest crude oil blending base, the world's center for bonded ore products blending, an SPG commercial vehicle logistics base, northern China's commercial vehicle logistics hub port, and northern China's renowned home port for wind power equipment has been comprehensively improved. This has helped elevate the high-quality and transformative development of SPG to a new height and contributed to its accelerated emergence as a world-class sea port.

Yantai Port closely follows SPG's development pace of promoting all-round port integration. [Photo provided to chinadaily.com.cn]