Business booms at Xinjiang border ports

The harsh climate used to make outdoor operations near-impossible, but Bai said that due to upgrading work carried out at the port, the situation has greatly improved.

Now, with indoor reloading warehouses in use, cargo containers can be seamlessly transferred each day, which has significantly improved transportation efficiency, he added.

In 2017, some 700 to 750 containers a day could be handled at the port, but its daily reloading capacity now stands at nearly 950 containers, Bai said.

"Every day, I handle a multitude of containers, I feel honored to act as a gatekeeper for this vital route on the Belt and Road Initiative," he added.

Li, the deputy mayor, said that in addition to the reloading warehouses, a series of infrastructure projects have been put into operation in recent years. They include a total of 94 broad-gauge and standard-gauge rail lines, a bulk-grain rail line, and an oil warehouse.

A series of measures have also been introduced at the port to facilitate clearance, reducing the transit time for imported goods by four hours, and also lowering transportation costs, Li said.

As of Nov 3, cargo throughput at the port reached 22.38 million metric tons, up by 5.1 percent year-on-year, Li said, adding that last year, the port's import and export trade volume reached 318.33 billion yuan ($44.87 billion).