TIANJIN: Automated container cranes and driverless transport vehicles are busy unloading and transporting containers at Tianjin Port in Tianjin Municipality, north China.
The design of the smart port, which incorporates technologies such as 5G, AI, autonomous driving and cloud computing, has completely transformed Tianjin Port. The port is now the world’s first zero-carbon smart terminal. The smart terminal increases the operational efficiency of one gantry crane by more than 40 percent and reduces labor costs by 60 percent.
China has been intensively developing smart transportation and logistics in recent years as it pushes to build world-class smart and green ports. In addition to Tianjin Port, Ningbo-Zhoushan Port, the world’s busiest port in terms of cargo throughput, also rode the wave of smart port construction.
“About 90 percent of China’s foreign trade is transported by sea. The development of smart ports will increase operational efficiency and make a significant contribution to the growth of China’s foreign trade,” said Lin Yikun, an official from the China Association of Communications and Transport.
As the world’s largest merchandise trader, China’s foreign trade hit a new high in the first half of this year, providing further impetus to the economic recovery, official data showed on Friday.
The volume of merchandise trade rose 6.1 percent year-on-year to 21.17 trillion yuan (about $2.97 trillion) in the January-June period, according to the General Administration of Customs.
“Marine shipping is critical to the global economy because 85 percent of all world trade is by sea, and China plays an important role in that,” said Steve Gordon, global director of Clarkson Research Services Ltd., a shipping research institution, during the four – day Tianjin International Shipping Industry Expo 2024, which opened on Wednesday.
“China remains the largest single shipping market. In many areas of the maritime economy, China is incredibly important and has taken a leading position in the market globally,” Gordon added.
