Jining, Shandong: Due to the Xingcheng Port, the inland river shipping system of "connecting the river and the sea" is open | Container | Jining, Shandong

Why Jining, the mighty inland river?

Jining, Shandong Province, is not along the border or by the sea, but it is the northernmost navigable city of the Beijing Hangzhou Grand Canal and an important shipping hub for the transportation of coal from the north to the south and the transfer of goods from the south to the north. Recently, a network themed interview team sponsored by the Cyberspace Administration of the Shandong Provincial Party Committee and the Shandong Provincial Department of Transportation visited Jining City, Shandong Province to explore its opening up of a new channel for opening up to the outside world and injecting new impetus into the economic development of cities along the canal.

Smart Empowerment

Let the "export port" lead to the "doorstep"

Longgong Port Unmanned Truck Supervision Platform. Photo by Xiao Congcong from People's Daily Online

At the intersection of Longgong River and the Beijing Hangzhou Grand Canal, Longgong Port located in Rencheng District of Jining City presents a bustling scene. Unmanned horizontal transport vehicles are loaded with containers and heading towards the dock. Automatic lifting equipment securely places the containers on the cargo ship, while the operator only needs to sit in the control room and use the joystick and monitoring system in front of the screen for remote control.

In recent years, Longgong Port has achieved many pioneering achievements in the fields of remote control automation of port machinery equipment, unmanned port driving technology, and domestic application of port machinery equipment, with the goal of building a national first-class inland intelligent container demonstration port. It has built the first fully automated container port in the inland river and explored and practiced the normalized operation plan of remote control automation for inland river bank bridges.

"By creating a new paradigm of intelligent operation for '1+1+2+3+N' inland container ports, the port has achieved automation in three core processes: yard loading and unloading, shore bridge loading and unloading, and horizontal transportation. It has implemented N intelligent application scenarios, including intelligent planning, intelligent cargo handling, and intelligent transportation." Gu Qiang, Deputy Director of the Longgong Port Science and Technology Information Center of Jining Port, introduced.

The natural geographical advantage, in line with the trend of efficient, low-carbon, and environmentally friendly container transportation, has established Longgong Port's position as a container multimodal transportation hub port.

"Go west into the Central Plains Economic Zone, connect with the 'the Belt and Road', connect Rizhao Port and Qingdao Port to the east, and directly connect with the Huaihe River Economic Belt and the Yangtze River Delta to the south." According to Wang Tianchi, the party masses work department of Longgong Port of Jining Port, the construction of the customs supervision site is being promoted. Through opening the import and export customs transfer business of container goods, the new channel for Jining to go to sea through the port will be opened, so that the "sea port" can really reach the "home gate".

From "none" to "existence"

Creating a "Demonstration Sample" for Green Shipping

Liangshan Port container gantry crane. Photo by Xiao Congcong from People's Daily Online

As the largest inland port in the north of the Yangtze River, from the bank of Liangshan Port, container cargo ships are gradually in place, loaded with goods, and then heading south along the canal to various parts of the country.

Who would have thought that this place was once a barren puddle.

In 2014, the important coal transportation railway for China's "West East Coal Pipeline" - the Wari Railway was completed and opened to traffic. In April 2015, Jining Energy Development Group took the construction of the Liangshan Port for multimodal transportation of public rail and water as an important breakthrough point for the conversion of new and old kinetic energy. They excavated 17.1 kilometers of waterways, constructed 9.18 kilometers of railway dedicated lines, opened up the "I-shaped" multimodal transportation corridor, and created the "golden coordinates" of the Wari Railway and the Beijing Hangzhou Grand Canal.

In August of this year, this place obtained the first "carbon footprint" and "carbon neutrality" certificate for inland ports in China. This marks a solid step for Liangshan Port in addressing climate change and promoting sustainable development of green ports.

"In response to the trend of efficient, low-carbon, and environmentally friendly container transportation, Liangshan Port has carried out a series of environmental protection measures. According to Wang Guangwen, Deputy Secretary of the Party Committee of Jining Port and Liangshan Port, in order to achieve carbon neutrality goals, the port area has built a series of measures such as constructing 5 MW photovoltaic power generation on the top of coal storage sheds, taking the lead in using LNG transport vehicles and ships, and comprehensively promoting electric loading equipment, actively practicing a green and low-carbon inland port production model."; At the same time, we actively invest in intelligent equipment to improve production efficiency, such as automated loading and unloading systems, intelligent energy management systems, automated ship loaders, and intelligent inspection robots.

It is understood that in order to further unleash the potential of inland waterway shipping in Liangshan Port, Jining Energy Development Group is currently making every effort to build a new energy shipbuilding base.

"This is the first green, intelligent, modern, and standardized inland ship manufacturing base in China." Wang Guangwen said that the group will vigorously promote the application of clean energy in ships and further explore new models for the operation and development of green and intelligent inland ships.

"Front Port and Rear Factory"

Promote the vigorous development of the integration of Hong Kong, industry and city

Production workshops within the industrial park. Photo by Xiao Congcong from People's Daily Online

Currently, Jining Port and Navigation Metal Materials Co., Ltd. located in Liangshan Port Logistics Park is rushing to produce a batch of orders for high-strength steel plates for trailers, which will be shipped to other provinces.

"Our company's 5 high-strength steel processing production lines can achieve automatic cutting of 1.5-16mm thick steel plates, and can cut freely within 30 degrees on the swing cutting line, saving materials. It is the only specialized processing production line for external tank trucks in Jiangbei," said Yu Lijun, General Manager of Jining Port and Navigation Metal Materials Co., Ltd.

Jining Port and Navigation Metal Materials Co., Ltd. is located on the north side of Liangshan County, Shandong Province, adjacent to Liangshan Port, with a superior geographical location. Through strong alliances, the project has connected and improved the industrial chain, accelerated the cultivation of industrial clusters, and formed a new operating model of "front port and back factory".

In the national multimodal transportation demonstration project of the Grand Canal Liangshan Port, dedicated container automatic loading and unloading and automatic cleaning equipment has been put into use. These highly recognizable orange containers are the second type of port and shipping equipment products provided by Shandong Shuyue Port and Shipping Equipment Industrial Park.

"Unlike domestic container production enterprises, the industrial park focuses on inland waterway shipping. Through research and innovation, the park can provide various port and shipping equipment to solve the pain points of inland ports." said Li Fengkuan, the production manager who has just completed the delivery of automatic container loading and cleaning equipment at Liangshan Port.

At present, Shuyue in Shandong mainly engages in two categories of port and waterway logistics equipment products and road transportation equipment products, with a total of 34 models, meeting the manufacturing needs of multimodal transportation equipment for highways, railways, and waterways. These products will become an important support for the navigation industry of Jining Port to connect the river and the sea, injecting new impetus into the economic development of Liangshan's manufacturing industry.

Facing the future, Xue Chaohua, secretary of the Party branch of Shandong Shuyue Vehicle Co., Ltd., said that he would seize the unique advantages of port and shipping industry development in Jining, join hands with upstream and downstream, connect production and supply, constantly create new value, and strive to build the largest port and shipping multimodal transportation equipment manufacturing base in Jiangbei.