At about 19:00 on August 16, as usual, the lights of Qinzhou Wharf in Guangxi Beibu Gulf Port lit up one by one, and the yellow lights lit up the whole wharf. Looking from the coastal highway to the opposite side of the sea, these lights twinkled like stars.
Qinzhou Port under the night is still a busy scene. A series of shore bridges are loading and unloading goods, trucks shuttle on the passage, and the sound of mechanical operation is combined with the sound of the sea breeze.
Qinzhou Port is an important part of Guangxi Beibu Gulf Port. It is hard to imagine that many years ago, it was still a small fishing port in the southwest border.
Zhou Weilong is a quay bridge driver of Guangxi Beibu Gulf International Container Terminal Co., Ltd., who has worked at Qinzhou Terminal for 7 years. "Since 2015, 16 double-box quay cranes have been added to the terminal, equipped with an intelligent tally system. Now there is no need for tallyman to go to the site to tally, which shortens the time to confirm the order, thus greatly improving the operation efficiency." At present, Zhou Weilong's average daily loading and unloading volume is about 370 TEUs, an increase of 17% over the previous year.

Qinzhou Wharf is full of quay bridges, and cars come and go (photo by Li Sufang from CCTV)
With the continuous improvement of quayside bridge operation efficiency, the time for goods to go to sea is also shortened.
Zheng Yan is the head of the Marketing Department of the Nanning Branch of Shanghai Xinhaifeng Container Transportation Co., Ltd. During her 12 years in the company, she has felt the changes of the Beibu Gulf Port with the times. "The modernization and intelligent construction of the port has greatly improved the operational efficiency of the ship, and the efficiency of customs clearance is also very fast. Previously, customs clearance was only available on weekdays, but now it can be cleared 24 hours."
Not long ago, the goods carried by the company were shipped from Qinzhou Port to Vietnam and Indonesia ports. Due to the opening of direct routes, the voyage was shortened by more than 50% compared with the previous one.
According to Chen Silu, secretary of the Party Committee and general manager of Beibu Gulf Port Co., Ltd., the cargo throughput of Beibu Gulf Port has increased from 170 million tons in 2012 to 360 million tons in 2021, and the container throughput has increased from 820000 TEUs in 2012 to 601 million TEUs in 2021, ranking the first in the country for four consecutive years.
"We have successively cooperated with COSCO Shipping and Singapore PSA to operate the Qinzhou Port Container Terminal, striving to build a container trunk port with the best cost, efficiency and service. The number of container routes has increased from 42 in 2012 to 71 now, and is open to more than 200 ports in more than 100 countries and regions around the world," said Chen Silu.

The world's first fully automated container terminal with a U-shaped process layout (photo by China Central Radio and Television Network)
Not only that, the Beibu Gulf Port has built the world's first fully automated container terminal with U-shaped process layout and 300000 tons of crude oil terminal. The proportion of deep-water berths that can berth ships of more than 100000 tons in the Beibu Gulf Port is more than 36%, far exceeding the national average level of coastal ports.
Today, the Beibu Gulf Port has turned from the former small port in the southwest border to become an international hub port, winning the recognition of enterprises.
More than 70% of the products of Guangxi Qinzhou Capital Success Chemical Co., Ltd.need to be exported. Speaking of the changes in Qinzhou Port Area of the Beibu Gulf Port, Lei Huixian, the general manager of the company, said with great emotion: "It can be said from my graduation assignment to Qinzhou Foreign Trade Company in 1993, when there was only one hardened mud road from Qinzhou downtown to Qinzhou Port, there were few international liners, and the port conditions were not perfect, so most of our goods were towed to Fangcheng Port for customs declaration and shipment, and the comprehensive cost was high."
In recent years, the shipping conditions of Qinzhou Port have been continuously improved, the number of international liners has gradually increased, and the company's new factories have also gradually reached production capacity. The location advantage of the former port and the later factory makes it enjoy more convenient logistics and lower costs.
"Taking our product phosphoric acid as an example, the production cost of phosphoric acid in Qinzhou Port can be saved by 200 yuan per ton compared with that of counterparts in Yunnan-Guizhou-Chuan and other places, and the export shipping time can be saved by about one week," Lei Huixian said.
Xing Zhan, manager of the Southwest Logistics Center of Tradewind Shipping Logistics Co., Ltd., also deeply felt the development of Qinzhou Port, He told the reporter: "Take the goods to Yibin Port in Sichuan as an example, the traditional river-sea intermodal transport is Yingkou Port - Yangtze River Estuary - Wuhan - Yibin, with a total time limit of 20 to 25 days. At present, the new land-sea channel in the west is Yingkou Port - Qinzhou Port - Yibin North, with a total time limit of 10 to 15 days, saving 10 days. The time limit of goods has been greatly improved, promoting the capital turnover of customers, and providing many opportunities for the company's business development."

Editor: Luo Lan
Reprinted from CCTV