China has built 52 fully automated terminals, with the application scale, operating efficiency and technical level ranking among the top in the world, said Vice Minister of Transport Li Yang in Beijing on Friday.
Speaking at a press conference, Li said that China's Shanghai Port became the first port in the world to achieve an annual container throughput exceeding 50 million twenty-foot equivalent units (TEUs) on Dec. 22, a breakthrough signifying that China's port development has reached a new height.
"The operation efficiency, service level and service capacity of China's ports are world-class. I would like to take the port operation efficiency as an example. In China, the average in-port period of an international cargo ship is 1.42 days, and the berth period of an international cargo ship is 0.87 days. From January to November this year, the ports in China completed a cargo throughput of 16.04 billion tons, with the throughput in the entire year expected to reach 17.5 billion tons, a year-on-year increase of 3.4 percent. In the first 11 months, China's container throughput reached 300 million TEUs, a year-on-year increase of 7.3 percent," he said.
China has been investing in and constructing a number of major port projects, including the largest commercial vehicle roll-on and roll-off terminal on the Yangtze River, built in the Taicang Port in Suzhou City of east China's Jiangsu Province, as well as inland port terminals in Chongqing and Anhui, according to Li.
"So far this year, China's investment in port construction has remained high. From January to November, the investment in ports reached 122.3 billion yuan (about 16.76 billion U.S. dollars), a year-on-year increase of 6.9 percent. The function of ports as hubs linking land and water transport has been further strengthened. China's maritime connectivity has always maintained a global lead, thanks to the improvement of port service capabilities and port network set-up in the country. Besides, China has been accelerating the development of port rail-water transport. From January to November, the volume of intermodal rail-water freight reached 10.63 million TEUs, a year-on-year increase of about 15 percent," said Li. "China has been accelerating green and smart transformation of the ports across the country. The clean energy utilization rate of trucks that transport containers in China's 11 international hub seaports has exceeded 60 percent, and the green transportation rate of bulk cargo such as coal and ore in major coastal ports has exceeded 85 percent, which has played a significant role in purifying the air of ports and surrounding cities. China has built 52 fully automated terminals, with the application scale, operating efficiency and technical level ranking among the top in the world," he said.
China boasts 52 world-class fully automated terminals: vice minister
