On the shores of Bohai Bay, 400,000-ton ships are shuttling around, and Tangshan Port has delivered a new answer: the cargo throughput will reach 768 million tons in 2022, leaping to the second place in the world. Since its first opening in 1991, Tangshan Port has developed into the largest iron ore receiving and unloading port, the largest steel export port, the largest coal export port, and an important oil and gas import base and reserve centre in China in more than 30 years. How did Tangshan Port achieve this in just over 30 years, a journey that many ports around the world take a hundred years to embark on?
Tangshan is located in the eastern part of Hebei Province, with nearly half of the coastline of Hebei Province, and the port of Tangshan has a "diamond-class" site with no freezing, no siltation and deep water. "If superior geographical conditions are the basis for the development of the port, then the hinterland economy, radiation range and foreign trade tendency factors are related to the prospects of the port development." Zhang Xiaofu, deputy director of Tangshan Ocean Port and Port and Maritime Administration, said.
From the perspective of the hinterland economy, the steel industry is one of the pillar industries of Tangshan City, which started because of coal and flourished because of steel, and is an industrial town in northern China. Behind the throughput is the mutual support and promotion of the port and the hinterland industries. Liu Zhaomin, Dean of the Ocean College of Tangshan Normal College, cites the example of HISCO Group's Tangshan Steel Company, which is only 1.4 kilometres from the port of Tangshan, where iron ore powder, coke and other materials unloaded from ships are transported directly to the yard through a belt corridor, and high-strength auto plates and other products produced are loaded onto ships from the port and sent out to sea, reducing transport costs and further attracting industries to gather along the coast. In turn, Tangshan City's steel, chemical, building materials, equipment manufacturing and other traditional advantages of industrial demand has also driven the port receiving and unloading capacity to enhance, Tangshan Port currently has 143 productive berths, with a total throughput capacity of 653 million tons / 2.36 million TEU.
From the perspective of radiation range, Tangshan Port has been extending its hinterland. In the land direction, 50 inland ports have been laid out and constructed, and 7 international liner lines have been launched, forming an international logistics network covering Northwest China, Northeast Asia and even Europe; in the sea direction, foreign trade routes have reached more than 200 ports in more than 80 countries and regions, and the opening pattern of linking inside and outside land and sea, and mutual assistance between East and West has further emerged.
From the perspective of foreign trade tendency, data show that in 2022 Tangshan port foreign trade throughput of 270 million tons, an increase of 6.71% year-on-year. "Tangshan City uses the port qualification 'full license', as well as the overlapping dividends of the free trade zone, bonded zone, cross-border e-commerce comprehensive pilot zone, import trade promotion innovation demonstration zone, etc., to continuously improve trade facilitation and safeguard the security of the national industrial chain supply chain." Zhao Yanan, deputy director of the Foreign Trade Department of Tangshan City Commerce Bureau, analyzed.
The application of new technologies such as 5G, artificial intelligence and "Internet+" has also provided technical support for the growth of throughput. Tangshan Port has improved port efficiency through technological upgrades, realized visual control of bulk cargo pallets, and an unmanned intelligent cargo handling system has constructed a smooth and convenient port logistics network for customers around the world. Today's smart terminal upgrade has radiated from the earliest container terminals to bulk cargo terminals and liquefaction terminals, and it is expected that by 2025 all specialised terminals will operate in remote control and unmanned mode on site.
In addition to technological innovation, Tangshan Port has also vigorously improved its business environment and continuously optimized its operations: deepening the "Internet + government services", opening online acceptance channels for all 16 government services in 3 categories, with a 100% online availability rate; improving efficiency, compressing the time for customs entry and clearance at Tangshan Customs in 2022 to about one-third of that in 2017. About one-third of the time required in 2017.
Through the port's value-added services, while using the port's strong collection and distribution system to attract customers from steel companies, the cargo turnover rate of the yard has increased to 688%, said Ding Lijia, Minister of Commerce of Tangshan Caofeidian Industrial Port Co.
In the future, Tangshan Port will strive to build four major storage and transportation bases for ore, coal, crude oil and natural gas. "Tangshan Port will continue to play the role of a major hub port for energy and raw materials serving major national strategies, and accelerate its construction into a world-class comprehensive trade port and a bridgehead for opening up to Northeast Asia." Zhang Xiaofu said.
