The Longgong Port Area of Jining Port is being upgraded into a professional container terminal. [Photo/Qilu Evening News]

Jining, known as "an ancient city on the Beijing-Hangzhou Grand Canal", realized a 27.2 percent year-on-year increase in port cargo throughput during the first three quarters of 2021.

This volume, totaling 34.4 million tons, surpassed even coastal ports in cities like Weifang and Weihai, making Jining the largest inland shipping port in East China's Shandong province in terms of throughput.

The city's rise as a shipping hub is a result of its efforts to shift dependence from coal production to port-industry integration.

In May 2020, Jining Energy Development Group established Jining Port and Shipping Development Group to integrate port resources across the city. 

Over the past year and a half, the port and shipping group built China's largest steel-structure coal storage bunker, set up Jining's first new energy fleet powered by liquefied natural gas, and opened eight new shipping routes.

An aerial view of a logistics park in Liangshan Port Area in Jining. [Photo/Qilu Evening News]

The Liangshan Port Area of Jining Port began operating in April.

It is connected to the Belt and Road through the Watang-Rizhao Railway, and to the Yangtze River Delta region through the Grand Canal, forming a road-rail-water transportation network that includes the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region, Yellow River economic area, YRD region and B&R.

"Bulk commodities like coal are directly loaded on board after being transported to Liangshan Port on the Watang-Rizhao Railway and delivered south through the Grand Canal, cutting costs by 50 to 60 yuan ($9.42) per ton," said Zhang Guangyu, general manager of Jining Port and Shipping Development Group. 

He added that the port has helped its clients save nearly 40 million yuan in logistics costs since it started operating.

The port also opened container routes to Wuhan, Taicang, Nanjing, Huaian and Lianyungang in September. It takes only 10 days to reach Wuhan and the cost of shipping is just one-third the cost of road transportation.

In this vein, Liangshan Port Area has being gathering people, cargo and capital flows to drive its industrial development, said Chen Zhe, top executive of the area.

Jining Port has established partnerships with steel manufactures and power suppliers in Hebei, Shandong, Hubei, Anhui and Jiangsu provinces and has pushed forward with industrial agglomeration.

In addition, local authorities are speeding up the transformation of Jining Port from a shipping port to a financial and trade port by introducing new information technology such as internet of things and big data.