📋 Tender Overview
Between the blue sea and the vast sky, giant ships plow through the waves, and the shore bridges stand tall like a steel forest. At the automated terminal of Qingdao Port in Shandong Port, unmanned container trucks draw blue tracks along the Beidou navigation; next to the 400,000-ton berth of Ningbo Zhoushan Port, orange bridge cranes grab containers with millimeter-level accuracy; when the morning light first appears at Shanghai Yangshan Deepwater Port, the world's largest 24,000 TEU giant ship is slowly berthing... Data shows that in 2024, my country's port cargo throughput will reach 17.6 billion tons, a year-on-year increase of 3.7%; container throughput will reach 330 million TEUs, a year-on-year increase of 7%.
However, when we look back to the depths of history, in the early days of the founding of New China, there were only more than 200 port berths in the country, mainly general cargo terminal berths. Port loading and unloading mainly relied on people carrying goods on their shoulders, and the annual cargo throughput of ports across the country was only 10 million tons. From carrying on shoulders and backs to intelligent control, from small ports on rivers to global hubs, my country's ports have achieved leapfrog development from following to leading.
Ports are basic and hub facilities and are an important support for economic development. Since the 18th CPC National Congress, General Secretary Xi Jinping has visited major domestic port areas more than 10 times to inspect the construction and operation of ports and terminals, and has made a series of important instructions - "accelerate the construction of world-class ocean ports", "strive to build world-class smart ports and green ports", "build multifunctional, comprehensive, modern ports"... The General Secretary's series of important instructions have placed high hopes on the development of ports in the new era, pointed out the direction of development, and provided fundamental guidance.
The transportation industry has thoroughly implemented the spirit of General Secretary Xi Jinping’s important instructions, gathered strong momentum, and worked hard to write a new chapter in accelerating the construction of a world-class port.
In 2019, the Ministry of Transport and nine other departments jointly issued the "Guiding Opinions on Building World-Class Ports", and my country's port development has embarked on a historical journey from a "big port country" to a "strong port country". By the end of 2023, my country will occupy eight and seven of the top ten ports in the world in terms of port throughput and container throughput, respectively.
Today, Qingdao Port's automated terminal, Shanghai Port's smart hub, Hainan Free Trade Port's institutional innovation... these global trade hubs are actively integrating into the country's major strategies with first-class facilities, first-class technology, first-class management, and first-class services, providing strong guarantees for promoting the construction of a new development pattern and injecting strong momentum into economic and social development.
Laying the foundation: First-class facilities improve overall efficiency
Looking at the Shulanghu Ore Transshipment Terminal of Ningbo Zhoushan Port, huge ships are connected and the ore flow is surging. In November 2024, Shulanghu Terminal became the first port in the world to achieve the simultaneous berthing and unloading of two 400,000-ton world's largest ore ships. Behind this is the "berth hardware" foundation.
Initially, due to factors such as the length of the berth, the Shulanghu Ore Transshipment Terminal did not have the capacity to accommodate two such giant ore ships at the same time. At the end of 2021, Ningbo Zhoushan Port launched the construction of the Shulanghu Ore Transshipment Terminal unloading berth extension project, extending 110 meters northward on the basis of the original berth No. 2. After completion, the total length of the berth will be increased to 945 meters, which can meet the berthing needs of two 400,000-ton ore ships at the same time.
Since the port opened in 2016, the Shulanghu Ore Transshipment Terminal has accumulated experience in berthing and unloading more than 380 400,000-ton ore ships. Currently, nearly 70 400,000-ton ore ships in operation around the world have docked here.
Since the 18th CPC National Congress, my country's port infrastructure construction has achieved remarkable results in deep-water and specialized development. At present, world-class port clusters such as the Bohai Rim, the Yangtze River Delta, and the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area have been formed, and the scale of port infrastructure has remained the world's largest for many years. In 2023, the Ministry of Transport, together with relevant state ministries and commissions, formulated and implemented the "Notice on Accelerating the Reconstruction and Expansion of Coastal and Inland Ports and Terminals", which promoted the reconstruction and expansion of ports and terminals and achieved positive results. A number of key projects have shifted to specialization.
At the mouth of the Yangtze River, the ro-ro terminal of Jiangsu Taicang Port is welcoming a giant ship carrying 3,000 domestically produced new energy vehicles. "It can load and unload 200 vehicles per hour, with an annual throughput of over 1 million vehicles. It is an important automobile export hub in the Yangtze River Basin," said the person in charge of the ro-ro terminal.
