Bulk cargo terminal becomes a multimodal transportation hub port (new development concept leads high-quality development, frontline story)

At the foot of Mingyue Mountain, at the confluence of the Yangtze River, with deep waters and wide banks. Guoyuan Port in Liangjiang New District, Chongqing is like a pearl inlaid with a busy atmosphere.

In January 2016, General Secretary Xi Jinping visited Guoyuan Port for inspection. Seeing that the Orchard Port Area has complete facilities and has begun to take shape, the General Secretary pointed out: "There is great hope here." The General Secretary urged the port to be built, managed and operated well, and serve the development of the Yangtze River Economic Belt, the construction of the "the Belt and Road", and the in-depth promotion of the western development with first-class facilities, first-class technology, first-class management and first-class services.

The proposal for the 15th Five Year Plan proposes that the high-level opening-up system and mechanism should be more sound.

Remembering General Secretary Xi Jinping's earnest instructions, Guoyuan Port has deeply implemented the new development concept, growing from a former bulk cargo terminal to China's largest inland waterway "water rail public" multimodal transport hub port, connecting more than 300 ports in over 100 countries and regions, and effectively driving the opening up and development of Chongqing and even the western region.

Innovative model, 'Chongqing Car' accelerates its overseas expansion

Chongqing is a major automobile hub. The Longsheng New City, where Guoyuan Port is located, is the gathering place of Chongqing's automobile industry.

In the early morning, at the Guoyuan Port's roll on/roll off commodity vehicle dock, new energy vehicles are rushing out one after another, heading straight for the roll on/roll off ships, and through the river sea intermodal transportation method, they depart along the river and are sent overseas.

The port service industry supports the port industry, and Guoyuan Port and Chongqing's automobile industry mutually benefit, "said the person in charge of Chongqing Guoyuan Roll on/Roll off Terminal Co., Ltd.

Strive for efficiency through reform.

In July of this year, the new intelligent supervision model for the entire roll on/roll off transportation process of "Chongqing Car Going Global · River Sea Intermodal Transport" successfully passed the test. This mode allows export vehicles to be directly transferred to seagoing ships for export after customs formalities are handled in Chongqing and transferred to Shanghai and other places through ro ro ships. It has the advantages of convenient loading and unloading, large carrying capacity, etc. It can reduce the whole logistics time by about 10 days, and save about 1500 yuan of comprehensive costs such as storage fees and labor costs for each vehicle.

Seeking momentum from openness.

The export of components is also an important part of the "Chongqing Car" going global.

At Guoyuan Port, Chang'an Minsheng Logistics Company consolidates and packages automotive parts from all over the country for export, and transports them to overseas factories for assembly, reducing logistics costs by 40% compared to whole vehicle transportation.

Through Guoyuan Port, our export packaging and logistics business has grown rapidly, "said Wang Xingwei, manager of the International Business Unit of Chang'an Minsheng Logistics Company. In the first three quarters of this year, the company shipped over 25000 sets of automotive parts.

Driven by open windows such as Guoyuan Port, "Yuche" has efficiently gone global and entered the fast lane of industrial development. According to statistics from Chongqing Customs, in the first three quarters of this year, Chongqing's exports of electric vehicles reached 9.79 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 69.1%, of which domestic brand electric vehicles accounted for over 90%. Chongqing is forming an intelligent connected new energy vehicle industry cluster, and "Chongqing made" cars are gradually shifting towards the mid to high end.

Multimodal transportation promotes coordinated development

Guoyuan Port is an important hub of the Western Land Sea New Corridor.

Not long ago, a batch of chemical products from Yunnan departed from Shuifu Port in Zhaotong by cargo ship, arrived at Guoyuan Port, and were sent to Qinzhou Port in Guangxi through the Western Land Sea New Channel, and then arrived in Southeast Asia by sea. Compared to going east along the Yangtze River and then turning to Southeast Asia, it can save 15 days of time.

Now, the container liner route from Shuifu Port to Guoyuan Port is operating stably, with 3 to 4 trips per week. According to customer needs, it can achieve daily operation of "two ports in two places".

We have achieved 'water rail public' multimodal transportation, where goods gather and suitable transportation methods can be found for different needs, "said Xie Songyu, the business manager of Chongqing Guoyuan Port Co., Ltd. Now, departing from Guoyuan Port, trains from Yunnan, Guizhou, Sichuan, Shaanxi, Xinjiang and other places can be connected, forming a network of iron rail intermodal transportation radiating to the southwest and northwest regions.

Only about half of the exported goods through Guoyuan Port are from Chongqing, with a large influx and outflow of goods, promoting the coordinated development of industries in the western region.

A batch of Guizhou phosphate fertilizer was shipped by railway to Guoyuan Port, and after being reloaded, it was sent downstream along the river to the eastern region. The adoption of the iron water intermodal transportation mode saves more than 20 yuan in logistics costs per ton compared to our previous railway transportation mode, and can save more than 20 million yuan in logistics costs throughout the year, "said a staff member of Guizhou Phosphate Group Logistics Company.

The glass substrates upstream from the Yangtze River are transported to multiple provinces in the west at Guoyuan Port, where they are made into LCD screens for various electronic products. They are then transported to Europe and Southeast Asia through the China Europe freight train and the Western Land Sea New Corridor; The logs and printers transported back by the China Europe freight train are transported along the Yangtze River to the eastern region

The Yangtze River Golden Waterway, Western Land Sea New Channel, and China Europe Railway Express (Chengdu Chongqing) are interconnected here, and a cross-border trade "transit station" is accelerating its growth.

Empowered by wisdom, open energy levels soar

Entering the Guoyuan Port terminal, five 5000 ton cargo ships are connected end-to-end on the coastline, loading and unloading in an orderly manner. The orange yard bridge in the yard accurately captures the containers, but there are few workers on site.

In the remote control room not far away, the bridge operator can control the precise movement of the bridge crane arm with just a click of the mouse, and steadily lift dozens of tons of containers.

It's like operating a 'claw machine', "said Hu Wanqi, Deputy Director of the Operations Department of Chongqing Guoyuan Container Terminal Co., Ltd., with a smile. Once upon a time, container loading and unloading operations required drivers to move back and forth on a bridge over 20 meters high. One driver could only operate one bridge, and the effective working time of the bridge was 18 hours per day.

In 2016, Guoyuan Port officially launched the construction of a smart port, promoting the upgrading of traditional container terminals to multimodal transport hub ports. Nowadays, eight intelligent application scenarios have been implemented here, including container management system, paperless platform, and remote control yard bridge.

Now, through the remote control system, one driver can operate multiple field bridges, greatly improving work efficiency. New energy unmanned container trucks have been put into use, relying on new technologies such as 5G and Beidou positioning, which can work in conjunction with vehicle management systems and remote control bridge systems to independently plan the optimal route in real time. The daily operating volume reaches 180, effectively alleviating the problem of tight port capacity.

The tentacles of intelligence continue to extend to every corner of Guoyuan Port. Fang Liang, Deputy General Manager of Chongqing Guoyuan Container Terminal Co., Ltd., introduced that the port has achieved electronic documentation, unmanned gates, intelligent cargo handling, and mixed operation of unmanned and manned container trucks.

Smart transformation drives the upgrading of port openness - statistics show that the improvement of port operation efficiency has accelerated the turnover speed of goods by 15%, reducing logistics costs for enterprises by over 100 million yuan annually.

The sky is clear and the blue waves are rippling. On the surface of the Yangtze River, cargo ships shuttle back and forth. By thoroughly implementing the important instructions of General Secretary Xi Jinping, Guoyuan Port will turn the blueprint of hope into reality. Steadily advancing towards the 15th Five Year Plan, this open land is writing a wonderful chapter of the new era with high-quality development.