In spring, with the soft sea breeze and rhythmical steam sound, Ningbo Zhoushan Port in East China’s Zhejiang province shows us a busy scene. The Ningbo Beilun Third Container Terminal is full of container ships, and travelling cranes keep loading and unloading cargoes . Since March, the average daily container throughput of the terminal has reached 31,600 TEUs, up 14.5% year-on-year.
“Ningbo Zhoushan Port is a strong force and plays an important role in the building of the Belt and Road, the development of the Yangtze River Economic Belt and the integration of the Yangtze River Delta. It is essential to adhere to first-class standards, build and manage the port well, and strive to build a world-class strong port,” said General Secretary Xi Jinping in his visit to Zhejiang province in the spring of 2020, leaving his earnest words still ringing in our ears.
With the cargo throughput ranking first in the world for 14 consecutive years and the container throughput continuing to stay at the third place in the world, Ningbo Zhoushan Port has become one of the top ten international shipping centers for the first time and it is added into the list of world-class “double demonstration” enterprises. As an important node of the global supply chain, with more than 300 routes connecting more than 600 ports in more than 200 countries and regions around the world, Ningbo Zhoushan Port is striving for a world-class strong port with solid progress. How does it achieve? It fundamentally bases on the guidance of the “Double Eight Strategy”, planning from a high position, implementing from a high starting point, serving “the country’s most fundamental interests” at a high level so as to hand over the high score answer sheet for the construction of a world-class strong port.
Planning from a high position
If Zhejiang province wants to become one of the top economies in the world, its port definitely is the “trump card”. With the broad sea and adequate wind, facing the Pacific shipping line and backed by the Yangtze River Delta economic circle, the Ningbo Zhoushan Port is located at the intersection of the “Silk Road Economic Belt” and “21st-Century Maritime Silk Road”, which make it a key node for the smooth operation of China’s foreign trade industry chain and supply chain. In addition, as a rare deep-water port in the world, Ningbo Zhoushan Port also has a pivotal position for its unique natural endowments and location advantages.
“Further taking advantages of mountain and sea resources, vigorously developing the marine economy and striving to make it a new growth point for Zhejiang economy.” Placing port development in the overall macro picture, the foresight of the Zhejiang Provincial Party Committee and the provincial government have provided a chance only once in a blue moon for the development of Ningbo Zhoushan Port. In 2005, Xi Jinping, as the secretary of the Zhejiang Provincial Party Committee, stressed that port construction was a major investment in the economic development of Zhejiang Province, and the focus of port construction was on the integration of Ningbo Port and Zhoushan Port. In January 2006, the two ports were officially merged, which symbolized the starting of integration.
Focusing on leadership and planing in advance. The plan of port development should be both far-sighted and timely updated. With a series of national strategies like the integrated development of the Yangtze River Delta to the ground, there are higher requirements for the scientific and advanced plan of port. To this end, Zhejiang Provincial Communication Department led several rounds of revisions of general regulations, taking the first step for integration at the top-level design. “The deeper research of the port, the fewer bottlenecks in business development.” Yang Jiangang, a staff of Zhoushan Harbour and Port Authority, who deeply engaged in the port planning for more than 20 years, twice participated in the revision of the general regulations and witnessed the Ningbo Zhoushan Port developing from small to a large one. At present, the latest round of revisions has been reported to the Ministry of Transport for approval. Zhejiang province also has provided important support for the construction of world-class strong ports by issuing a series of guiding documents in low-carbon development, science and technology innovation.
“Five seaports are like five fingers, and the ‘unity of five ports’ is like five fingers holding into a fist, becoming more united and powerful.” In August 2015, Zhejiang Seaport Group was established and it became a model of regional port integration. In the future, Zhejiang province will deepen the implementation of seaport integration version 2.0 to achieve the deep integration of the “core layer” port, “close layer” port and “linkage layer” port in Ningbo Zhoushan Port, forming a cluster development pattern.
Implementing from a high starting point
“In the past, regardless of the bad weather, bridge crane drivers had to climb up to dozens of meters high to operate the equipment. However, now they just need to sit in the office to operate the equipment remotely,” said Zhu Shijie, the national model worker and the craftsman of the nation, who has dealt with containers for more than 20 years. Since the founding of innovation studio named after him, over 30 independent innovation achievements have been born and hundreds of technology experts have been cultivated in the past 10 years.
Innovation brings the light of science and technology. Empowering through digitization and intelligence is the “magic weapon” of Ningbo Zhoushan Port to improve its efficiency continuously. Zhejiang Provincial Communication Department has formulated policies, strengthened coordination and enhanced guidance, focusing on the empowerment through digitization and intelligence and low-carbon development, so as to accelerate the building of a first-class port from a high starting point. As for building a smart port, Meishan Port is the forerunner of Ningbo Zhoushan Port, which is not only one of the few domestic container terminal that have achieved “remote control of loading and unloading equipment + smart cards” automated operation, but also realized the orderly mixing operation of smart cards and manual cards on a large scale.
Following the container terminal operating system that independently developed by Ningbo Zhoushan Port was launched at Chuanshan Port area in June 2020, the system has basically covered the whole port. Innovation can be seen everywhere: 20,000 TEU container ships have accumulated more than 20,000 berths, relying on the construction of smart ports with digital innovation; bridge cranes are installed with solar photovoltaic panels to achieve auxiliary power supply for lighting, air conditioning, fans and other equipment, which is also an innovation in the construction of smart green ports.
Compared with the internal linkage of the port, the greater challenge lies in the external one. Deepening the “four ports linkage” is the key step on the way to strengthen the ports of Zhejiang province. Combined with its unique characteristics, the government in Zhejiang province has developed the innovative Construction Plan for Accelerating the Linkage and Development of Seaport, Land Port, Air Port and Information Port, which takes seaport as the leader, land port as the basis, air port as the feature and information port as the link, making use of the comparative advantages and the combined benefits of various modes of transport, accelerating the development of multimodal transport, building a comprehensive transport network with four-dimensional connectivity so as to create a big modern transportation and logistics system. “It provides a brand- new idea for Ningbo Zhoushan Port to make itself a world-class port,” said an industry insider.
Serving at a high level
A slight move in one part may affect the situation as a whole. In recent years, focusing on the overall situation, Zhejiang Provincial Communication Department took the lead to work out several important documents, such as Guidance on Building A World-class Strong Port at High-level and Guidance on Accelerating the Development of Modern Shipping Services. What’s more, it also actively promoted the development of Ningbo Zhoushan Port integrating into national strategies like The Belt and Road, Yangtze River Economic Belt and Yangtze River Delta Integration, which open a brand new situation for the construction of a world-class strong port.
Along the Yiwu-Ningbo-Zhoushan Passage, Zhejiang Provincial Communication Department is building a T-structure transportation network to drive the coastal areas and western and south-western Zhejiang province to form closer economic ties. It also continues to deepen the cooperation with the inland hinterland of Zhejiang Province and East China to achieve mutual benefit in both south and west directions land and linkage between inside and outside the sea through water-to-water transit and sea-rail transport. By the end of last year, the number of sea-rail trains has increased to 23, with its business radiating to 16 provinces (autonomous regions and municipalities) and annual business volume exceeding 1.45 million TEUs, with a year-on-year growth of over 20%. Zhoushan Port is increasingly becoming the first major port of sea-rail intermodal transport in the south.
Recently the mobilization meeting held in Zhejiang Province to accelerate the implementation of world-class strong port construction project proposed the version 2.0 of creating a world-class strong port. With specialized work team promoting the development of strong port at the high level, the relevant municipalities and the provincial seaport group each performs own functions to accelerate the progress. Yuxingnao Channal Project has officially started; The Second Channel of the Grand Canal has opened some key nodes of Hangzhou navigation channel, which is basically equipped with navigable conditions; Hangzhou and Ningbo have inaugurated the International Commercial Court; Zhoushan has issued a policy to arrange 250 million yuan of fiscal funds to specifically support the high-quality development of modern shipping and maritime services; Ningbo Zhoushan Port Group Co., Ltd. is selected to the list of creating a world-class model enterprises, and the upgrade and transformation reform first has a breakthrough, etc. The cooperation of provinces, cities and counties, the coordination of government and enterprises and the supervision of implementation are promoting the progress of strong port construction.
There is neither an end for sea nor progress. In the future, Ningbo Zhoushan Port will strive for the general goal of “basically building a world-class strong port in 2027” and closely follow the Zhejiang Province World-class Strong Port Construction Project (2023-2027) Implementation Plan. It will find the historical positioning in the Chinese modernization, serve the “the country’s most fundamental interests”, adhere to the “three major objectives and positioning”, accelerate the creation of “ten landmark achievements” and implement “ten traction reforms”, so as to become a global important port and shipping logistics center, strategic resource allocation center and modern shipping service base, and build a world-class strong port version 2.0 at a high level.
Reprinted from: China Traffic News