In the first 10 months of this year, Shandong Port Group (SPG) posted efficient and steady growth in port production despite the combined forces of global changes and the COVID-19 pandemic, as well as the unstable container shipping market. It handled a total of 1.36 billion metric tons of cargo and 31.12 million TEUs (twenty-foot equivalent units) of containers from January to October, up 7 percent and 9.1 percent year-on-year, respectively.

To further improve and extend its services, SPG has striven to promote the regular shipping of mega container vessels, advance operation services and improve the group's production and operation efficiency. During the period, Qingdao Port, run by SPG, completed 452 pairs of operation services for container vessels, saving over 572 hours for customers.

In June, by relying on SPG's self-developed A-TOS intelligent control system that is applied in the fully automated container terminals, the Qingdao Port Fully Automated Container Terminal achieved an average efficiency of 47.6 moves of TEUs per hour for a single crane, and its highest single-crane output increased 14.2 percent to 67.76 TEUs per hour, which has refreshed the world's automated terminal handling record for the ninth time.

During the same period, Yantai Port handled over 31,000 commercial vehicles from Wuling Motors, Ford, and Morris Garages, which were transported to the port via rail. This has further consolidated the company's position as a commercial vehicle logistics base in northern China.

Additionally, the annual coke loading volume at Rizhao Port via the shift of freight transport from bulk cargo to container traffic overtook last year's aggregate cargo volume with an increase of 29.2 percent from a year earlier, setting a new record.

As the world's largest port conglomerate, SPG has put itself in the national development landscape, collaborated with customs, railways, inland ports and free trade zones (industrial parks) along the Yellow River to serve the high-quality socio-economic growth of the Yellow River Basin. It has worked together with China Railway Jinan Group to unveil 15 service commitments for shipping companies and enterprises as part of its efforts to bolster sea-rail combined transportation.

From January to October, SPG had opened five inland ports and five freight train routes, with the number of inland ports reaching 31 and the number of sea-rail combined transport routes amounting to 81, and its sea-rail combined transportation capacity surpassed 2.51 million TEUs, up 18 percent year-on-year.

Furthermore, a total of 33 shipping routes were opened during the same period, which has brought the total number of shipping routes to 328. On top of that, great efforts have also been made to shift freight transport from bulk cargo to container traffic, with cargo volume rising 24 percent compared with the same period last year via this transport mode.

Moving ahead, SPG plans to continue to leverage its role as a pivotal platform and make all-out efforts to achieve its current goals, so as to write a new chapter in SPG's development and make greater contributions to helping China build a new development pattern.

In the first 10 months of this year, SPG posts efficient and steady growth in port production. [Photo provided to chinadaily.com.cn]