Tianjin Port smarter, greener with help of high-tech

Tianjin Port said, as of Oct 13, its zero-carbon smart terminal in Beijiang port area has handled 1 million twenty-foot equivalent units (TEUs) of containers since the operation began in October last year.

"It took less than three years to not only finish construction of the intelligent and green port but also achieve a record container throughput of 1 million TEUs," said Yang Rong, general manager of the No 2 Container Dock Co Ltd, Tianjin Port Group.

The terminal also loaded a container ship with 200,000 TEUs on Oct 13 for the first time, the highest volume of its kind since its founding, Yang said.

Having ramped up innovation efforts, the terminal is well supported by smart technology and powered by solar and wind clean energies, and has made notable progress in integrating green and intelligent solutions.

The unmanned and smart terminal, which gives full play to high-tech solutions such as 5G, big data, autonomous driving and artificial intelligence, has seen improving performance.

Compared to its traditional terminals, the automatic terminals are more efficient and energy-saving, the port said.

The port is built in cooperation with high-tech solutions providers Huawei Technologies Co Ltd and China Mobile.

Huawei said in a news release that it is partnering with Tianjin Port and helping to boost digital transformation in the port area, including top-level design and innovations in docking technologies.

Huawei's announcement followed its unveiling of the Global Joint Innovation Lab with Tianjin Port and other leading universities and companies in August in Tianjin.

Jiang Kaimin, senior marketing expert for Customs and port business with Huawei, said, "The digitalization of ports involves many subdivisions, seeking to achieve optimal efficiency of the overall system of people, cargo, vehicles, ships and ports."

Jiao Guangjun, deputy Party chief of Tianjin Port Group, said the new lab will trigger more collaboration among companies and research institutions to make greater innovations in port technologies and drive transportation in quality and efficiency among global ports.

As a pivotal shipping outlet for the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region and located on the coast of the Bohai Sea, the port has actively seized development opportunities brought by the Belt and Road Initiative and has coordinated the development of the region, the port said.