Guangxi shining bright as bridge to ASEAN

Region has been key conduit for trade, biz with Southeast Asia

With 20 years of development, South China's Guangxi Zhuang autonomous region has become a strategic gateway between China and member countries of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, boosting trade ties and communication between both parties.

At a flourishing terminal in Qinzhou, Guangxi, a giant bridge crane unloads goods under the control of automated equipment, while container trucks shuttle along a U-shaped wharf, the world's first wharf of such a shape.

A human controller of the dock remotely controls the loading and unloading equipment, using technologies such as artificial intelligence, big data and cloud computing. Through the 5G intelligent cargo system, the dock is becoming more and more efficient and automated.

With more loading and unloading points, it can accommodate more gantry cranes in the yard to improve efficiency. The wharf uses low-speed gantry cranes, which increases operational efficiency by more than 30 percent and reduces personnel by 90 percent.

This is a typical scene of the Qinzhou automated container terminal at Beibu Gulf Port in Guangxi — China's first sea-rail intermodal automated container terminal.

"Automated terminals are more efficient and convenient than traditional ones, with higher container loading and unloading speeds. Within one year of operation, the gross boxes per hour per vessel have surged 152.6 percent, while gross boxes per hour per berth have soared 218.8 percent," said Geng Weining, deputy general manager of the terminal.

"Using electromagnetic navigation, the container truck, which weighs 26 metric tons, has a parking accuracy of within 2 centimeters and a riding accuracy of 5 cm," Geng said.

In the first eight months of this year, cargo throughput at Beibu Gulf Port exceeded 200 million tons, up 11.35 percent year-on-year, the port operator said.

Beibu Gulf Port Group said that more than 5 million twenty-foot equivalent units of containers were handled by the port from January to August, up 14.98 percent year-on-year.

The Qinzhou Port Area in China (Guangxi) Pilot Free Trade Zone, where the terminal is located, is one of three FTZs in Guangxi. In 2019, the State Council issued a notice on the establishment of six new pilot FTZs in China, marking the official launch of the three FTZs in the region.