On October 7, at the Dalian container terminal in Liaoning, vessels alongside the berth carried out loading and unloading operations.

Where rivers meet the sea, port operations are busy. During the National Day holiday, ports across the country saw large vessels coming and going and loading and unloading in full swing, driving fast entry and exit of domestic and foreign trade cargo.

On the coast of the East China Sea, four large container ships lined up side by side, fully automated bridge cranes lifted and lowered with precision, and more than 100 automated guided vehicles shuttled silently. In the first three days of the National Day holiday, the Phase IV automated terminal at Yangshan Deep-Water Port of the Shanghai International Shipping Center handled a cumulative total of more than 79,000 TEUs, up 18.7% from the same period last year; over the full seven-day holiday, cumulative operations were expected to exceed 180,000 TEUs. "The entire process of ship berthing and departure, cargo loading and unloading, and route connections is intelligently scheduled to maximize the release of the port area's throughput efficiency," said Huang Hua, chief remote operator of Shangdong Branch of Shanghai International Port Group.

As an important hub connecting the domestic and international dual circulation, ports can be described as a "barometer" of economic development. In the first eight months of this year, China's total import and export value of goods trade rose 17.6% year on year; port cargo throughput reached 12.06 billion tonnes, of which foreign trade throughput increased 2.8% year on year.

Along the Beibu Gulf, freight trains shuttled back and forth; in the Qinzhou Port area, cargo ships formed lines... During the National Day holiday, the automated container terminal at Guangxi's Qinzhou Port maintained 24-hour continuous operations, with throughput from October 1 to 7 expected to reach 45,000 TEUs. On September 16, the Pinglu Canal officially opened to navigation, and the "circle of friends" in this sea area expanded accordingly: iron ore and auto parts from Yunnan and Guizhou moved south by rail-water intermodal transport to ASEAN; coal and bauxite from Guinea and Laos traveled north along the canal into the southwestern hinterland. "The sea voyage has been greatly shortened. Recently, a number of new clients have been added from Guigang, Nanning, and Baise in Guangxi, as well as from Yunnan, Guizhou, and Sichuan," said Zhang Minghe, deputy manager of the Operations Department of Guangxi Qinzhou Bonded Port Area Honggang Terminal Co., Ltd.

Turning to the northeast, on the afternoon of October 7, the Ocean Alliance Europe route vessel "Oriental Sweden" docked steadily at the Dalian container terminal in Liaoning, with seven loading and unloading lines operating simultaneously. Dalian Container Terminal Co., Ltd. handles more than 98% of the foreign trade container transport volume in the northeast region and opened five new foreign trade routes this year. "Within a docking time of less than 20 hours, we need to complete the loading and unloading of nearly 4,900 TEUs," said Qiu Li, duty manager of the Operations Department of Dalian Container Terminal Co., Ltd. During the National Day holiday, the container terminal's workload remained at a high level, with total loading and unloading volume expected to increase by about 20% year on year. "There is grain bound for southern provinces, as well as precision instruments, complete vehicles, and equipment parts bound for Europe."

During the National Day holiday, port upgrades did not stop. At Shanghai Port's third automated terminal, construction of the Xiaoyangshan North Operation Area project was in full swing, and all five automated quay cranes were in place. Qin Tao, deputy commander of the engineering command headquarters of Shanghai International Port Group, said that this brand-new automated terminal will iteratively upgrade the new-generation smart operation and management system for automated terminals independently developed by Shanghai International Port Group. At the Qinzhou Port automated container terminal, five 5,000-tonne-class river-sea intermodal automated container berths are being built simultaneously, with large boring machines roaring without pause. Soon, river vessels from the Pinglu Canal will be able to berth alongside sea-going vessels, and cargo will achieve "water-to-water transshipment and direct unloading and loading" through gantry cranes, belt conveyors, floating cranes, and other equipment, reducing the steps of landing and warehousing and greatly increasing efficiency.

A total of 60 automated terminals have been built and put into operation across the country, including 30 automated container terminals, accounting for 27% of the global total; the fastest single-machine operating efficiency at the automated terminals of Shanghai Port and Shandong's Qingdao Port exceeds 60 natural containers per hour, and the average time in port for international container ships at major coastal ports is 1.7 days.