Ships arriving at Huanghua Port are transporting coal in the coal port area. Photo by Liu Jie

On the banks of the blue Bohai Sea, in the coal port area of Huanghua Port in Cangzhou City, Hebei Province, there are gusts of sea breeze, and cargo ships whistle long. The black coal rolls forward along the conveyor belt, and is continuously loaded onto the docked cargo ships by the "giant arm" of loading machines. The entire production operation is orderly.

Cargo ships shuttle on the sea surface of Huanghua Port. Photo by Liu Jie

Accelerate infrastructure construction and enhance comprehensive port service functions

Huanghua Port is located at the dome of Bohai Bay, adjacent to Beijing Tianjin and Xiong'an New Area. It consists of four major port areas: comprehensive port area, bulk cargo port area, coal port area, and estuary port area, radiating to central and southern Hebei, Shandong, Henan, Jin, Shaanxi, Inner Mongolia and other regions.

At that time, I reported to the General Secretary on the location advantages, waterway conditions, port throughput, and important role of Huanghua Port. Recalling the scene at that time, Wang Baohui, Secretary of the Party Committee and Chairman of Cangzhou Port Group Co., Ltd., still vividly remembered it.

"The throughput of Huanghua Port has exceeded 300 million tons for three consecutive years." Wang Baohui introduced that since the beginning of this year, Cangzhou Huanghua Port has made a series of breakthrough progress in port infrastructure construction, expansion of domestic and foreign trade routes, and soft environment construction, and has accelerated the construction of a multifunctional and comprehensive modern port.

"After listening to General Secretary's words, we are greatly encouraged." Wang Baohui said that we will vigorously promote transformation, upgrading, and high-quality development, enhance the comprehensive service functions of ports, strengthen the coordinated development of the Tianjin Hebei port group, continuously extend the hinterland of Huanghua Port to the vast areas of central and southern Hebei, Shandong, Henan, Shanxi, Shaanxi, Inner Mongolia, Gansu, and Ningxia, and strive to build Huanghua Port into a modern comprehensive service port, international trade port, Xiong'an New Area, and a convenient port for the central and western hinterland.

Lianyuan, one of the ecological water systems in the coal port area of Huanghua Port. Photo by Liu Jianling

Continuously improving the port environment and transforming into a "coastal garden" port

Entering the "Lotus Garden" in the coal port area of Huanghua Port, one can see the lake water clear, fish swimming freely, and water birds occasionally flying over the lake surface.

"This was originally a construction waste yard in Huanghua Port. Now, through measures such as extracting ballast water, collecting rainwater, and treating coal wastewater, it has been transformed into an artificial lake ecological park in the 'Two Lakes and Three Wetlands' water system." Wang Dachun, Deputy Manager of the Equipment Management Center of Guoneng Huanghua Port Co., Ltd., introduced.

Within the "Two Lakes and Three Wetlands", there is abundant and recyclable fresh water that nourishes the green trees and red flowers in the port area, attracting fish to swim and birds to fly. The once gray faced port has become a "coastal garden" with birds singing and flowers fragrant.

Wang Dachun recalled the former appearance of Huanghua Port - "the sky was dark, the water was gray and black", which was a common impression of coal terminals among people. "In order to change the environment of the coal port area, the company's independently developed coal port operation full process dust suppression system has achieved clean production of coal loading and unloading, and established an intelligent ecological control system covering the entire port area."

Under the background of carbon peak and carbon neutrality, green transformation has become the necessary path for high-quality development of ports. "We strive to practice the concept of 'green waters and mountains are invaluable assets' and vigorously promote the construction of' zero carbon, waste free, and ecological 'ports. Wang Dachun stated that the coal port area of Huanghua Port will further promote the aggregation and coordination optimization of controllable loads such as photovoltaic systems, energy storage systems, and hydrogen production, achieve the development of' source network load storage integration ', and promote the green and low-carbon transformation and upgrading of Huanghua Port.".

The ship is berthing at Huanghua Port and preparing for operation. Photo by Liu Jianling

Make every effort to build an energy hub and safeguard national energy security

At the coal port terminal of Huanghua Port, the sound of horns swept across the sea and sky, and the 50000 ton coal transport vessel "Shenhua 523" approached the terminal.

"The loading and unloading of this ship can be completed within about 24 hours. From the dump truck to the loading machine, we have achieved full automation." Li Hongjun, Secretary of the Party Committee and Chairman of Guoneng Huanghua Port Co., Ltd., introduced that the "Shenhua 523" ship belongs to the conventional ship type, and for some special ship types, we have adopted a voice control loading system to solve the problem of difficult automatic loading under special ship types and working conditions.

Huanghua Port Coal Port Area is the port with the shortest land transportation distance for coal exports from Shaanxi and Inner Mongolia, and is an important hub port for national coal transportation from west to east and from north to south.

The energy supply guarantee is closely related to thousands of households, and Huanghua Port plays a role as a "ballast stone" and "stabilizer" in safeguarding energy security. As of the end of 2022, Huanghua Port has completed a cumulative coal discharge of over 2.5 billion tons.

Li Hongjun introduced that the coal port area of Huanghua Port actively promotes the construction of information infrastructure, strengthens the construction of smart ports and navigation, creates digital and intelligent port demonstration scenarios, improves the level of port safety production, promotes safety visibility, controllable risks, automatic hidden danger investigation, and collaborative supervision system construction.

At present, through technological and management innovation, the coal port area of Huanghua Port has 22 berths, achieving two-way navigation of 50000 ton ships. Next, the coal port area of Huanghua Port will promote projects such as the fifth phase of the coal project, accelerate the implementation of the first and second phases of the 70000 ton two-way waterway project, and continuously enhance the energy supply guarantee capacity.

"Energy supply guarantee involves thousands of households. We will keep in mind the instructions of General Secretary, expand the efficient advantages of the coal, electricity, port and shipping integration industry, create a green, intelligent, efficient, and safe world-class port, make the foundation of energy supply guarantee stronger, more efficient, stronger, and more confident, and ensure the security of the energy supply chain and industrial chain." Li Hongjun said.