Contrary to the trend of growth in ports to help foreign trade
Our reporter Qi Hui
Since the beginning of this year, my country's foreign trade situation has continued to improve.
Driven by foreign trade, my country’s cargo ports have performed exceptionally well. Not only did they take the lead in fully resuming work and production, achieving growth against the trend, it effectively guarantees that “exported goods can be exported and imported goods can be imported”, and the port’s own development has also been realized. Leap, the level of automation and intelligence has been greatly improved.
Strongly support the development of foreign trade
Data show that in the first November of this year, the total value of my country's trade in goods was 35.39 trillion yuan in RMB, a year-on-year increase of 22% and an increase of 24% over the same period in 2019, which has exceeded the level of last year.
"The rapid growth of import and export data must require port container-related freight to match, otherwise the in and out of these goods cannot be completed." said Sun Wenjian, a spokesperson for the Ministry of Transport.
Since the beginning of this year, the port has overcome the impact of the epidemic, its throughput has continued to grow, various transport ships come and go, and the frequent "migration" of containers has promoted a steady increase in the quality of China's foreign trade.
In terms of specific values, in the first 10 months of this year, my country’s ports completed a cargo throughput of 12.87 billion tons, a year-on-year increase of 7.8%, and completed a container throughput of 235 million TEUs, a year-on-year increase of 8.4%. Both data indicators showed a positive trend.
Bright data is inseparable from strict epidemic prevention and control measures.
Sun Wenjian pointed out that in order to resume work and production as soon as possible, in May this year, the Ministry of Transport revised and issued the sixth edition of the "Guidelines for the Prevention and Control of New Coronary Pneumonia Epidemic of Ports and Frontline Workers", adjusting epidemic prevention and control measures according to the situation and highlighting key points. , Do a good job in foreign defense import work, strengthen personal protection, the vaccination rate of front-line employees in the port exceeds 97%, and personnel in high-risk positions should receive all vaccines.
At the same time, the establishment and implementation of a normalized appointment entry mechanism, the promotion of remote operation and the electronicization of operation documents, has improved the ability of epidemic prevention and control and operation efficiency.
The efficient operation of the port also supports the normal progress of foreign trade, and has made a positive contribution to maintaining the stability of the global industrial chain and supply chain.
According to statistics, from the outbreak of the epidemic to July this year, the proportion of China's foreign trade import and export goods completed by sea has risen from 94.3% before the epidemic to 94.8%.
Significant effect of automation upgrade
On October 17, the intelligent container terminal in Section C of the Beijiang Port Area of Tianjin Port, which was constructed for 21 months, was officially put into operation.
Chu Bin, Secretary of the Party Committee and Chairman of Tianjin Port Group, introduced that this is the world's first "smart zero-carbon" terminal, providing a model for the intelligent upgrade and low-carbon development of the world's ports with a brand-new model.
Most of the existing automated container terminals in the world are realized through newly built terminals, which cannot meet the needs of most traditional terminals for automation upgrades.
Chu Bin said that since 2019, Tianjin Port has gradually overcome the automation upgrade and transformation of the entire yard track bridge, the large-scale operation of unmanned electric truck fleets, and the full-process automation upgrade technology of traditional container terminals, and explored the advantages of traditional port automation construction. China plan.
Compared with the traditional terminal, this "smart zero-carbon" terminal has no fossil energy, all electricity is used, and the electricity supply is all from wind power and photovoltaics, achieving zero carbon in energy consumption and production links.
At the same time, the terminal technology, process, equipment, and buildings have achieved low energy consumption in all aspects, which is more than 17% energy-saving than traditional automated terminals.
According to the relevant person in charge of the Ministry of Transport, since the completion of Xiamen Yuanhai Automated Terminal in March 2016, Shanghai Yangshan Port Phase IV, Qingdao Qianwan Phase I and Phase II, Tianjin Wuzhou International and many other newly built or renovated automated container terminals ( (Including fully automated docks and yard automated docks) have been built and put into operation.
Up to now, my country has built 10 automated container terminals and 7 automated container terminals are under construction. The scale of both built and under construction ranks first in the world.
The construction of automated docks has not only improved the production efficiency and technical level of my country's docks, but also played an important role in the prevention and control of the epidemic.
"This epidemic has had an impact on the epidemic prevention and shift system of technical positions, and has further highlighted the importance of building an automated terminal." Jia Dashan, deputy dean of the Institute of Water Transport Science of the Ministry of Transport, pointed out that the promotion of automation and smart shipping should be further accelerated. Construction will essentially reduce human infections, improve the adaptability of personnel in various technical positions, and improve the smoothness, safety and economic efficiency of the supply chain.
Future development advantages are gathering
Judging from the current actual operating conditions, my country's automated terminals are operating stably, with gradual improvements in loading and unloading efficiency, and operating conditions are good, which has played a good demonstration effect.
Take the Shanghai Yangshan Port Phase IV project opened in December 2017 as an example. The port is the world's largest automated terminal. The container throughput was 2.013 million TEUs in the first year of operation, and the container throughput will be completed in 2020. 4.2 million TEUs are expected to exceed 5.7 million TEUs in 2021.
Qingdao Qianwan Automated Terminal has been in operation for more than 4 years. It has repeatedly set the world record of packing by itself, creating an average operation efficiency of 36.2 natural containers/hour, breaking the world record of the highest operation efficiency of 43.8 natural containers/hour, far exceeding the efficiency Similar foreign terminals have won many international awards.
The development of automated terminals has not only greatly improved the technical level of my country's ports, but also has gathered development advantages for my country's ports, accumulated development momentum, and took the lead in future competition.
Advantages come from breakthroughs in key technologies across the entire chain.
"On the basis of absorbing foreign experience, my country has fully mastered the key technologies of the entire chain of automated terminal design and construction, equipment manufacturing, system integration, and operation management, and has achieved the transformation from'following and running to leading'." Transportation The relevant person in charge of the Ministry of Transport said.
These are powerful tools for future competition.
Advantages also come from the extensive use of innovative results.
At present, my country has achieved a large number of innovations in the overall layout of the wharf, loading and unloading technology, intelligent gates, yard coordination, Beidou and 5G technology applications: the first full-site rail crane "one-key anchoring", robot disassembly and assembly twist lock System and other technologies; new forms of fully automated terminal layout such as "shore arrangement" and "U-shaped arrangement" have been explored in light of the actual conditions of various regions.
The Shijiu container terminal of Rizhao Port, which was put into operation this year, became the first fully automated terminal along the shore. The application of these innovations has tested the technical capabilities of the port and created good conditions for my country's ports to continue to innovate in the future.
In order to consolidate its advantages, the Ministry of Transport has also organized and published the world's first "Automated Container Terminal Design Specifications" and "Automated Container Terminal Construction Guidelines" in recent years, forming Chinese standards and greatly enhancing the international image and influence of my country's ports.
At present, my country's automated container terminal construction technology and standards have gone abroad, and automated terminals such as Israel's Haifa Port and Abu Dhabi Khalifa Port Phase II have adopted my country's technical standards in terms of general layout and loading and unloading techniques.
Although the development momentum is good, the hidden worries cannot be ignored.
Experts said that as the center of global processing trade shifts to developing countries such as Southeast Asia, investment has also been adjusted along with industrial development.
After the decline in investment in my country's coastal ports in the past few years, the adaptability of port capacity has changed from a moderate advance before the epidemic to a basic adaptation after the epidemic.
In this regard, Jia Dashan suggested that the construction of port infrastructure should be accelerated to improve the resilience to emergencies; the construction of automated terminals and smart logistics should be accelerated to improve the safety and reliability of the supply chain; relevant regulatory measures should be strengthened to promote the sustainable and healthy development of the market.