HAIKOU /China/, 22 October. /TASS/. The Yangpu deep-water port on the northwestern coast of China's Hainan Province increased its container throughput by 7.2% year-on-year to more than 1.44 million units in January-September, Hainan Daily reported citing official data.
Yangpu's total cargo throughput for the period exceeded 47.45 million tons, up 8.4% year-on-year, according to the port's transport and navigation authority. Waterborne traffic reached 770 billion tonne-kilometres (up 10.68%). As a result, production targets were met on schedule.
Xu Lingxiang, deputy general manager of the production and operation center of Hainan Port and Shipping International Port Co, said his organization had increased throughput at Yangpu by 10.8% in nine months to 1.31 million standard containers amid increasing activity on domestic and international trade routes.
To improve the efficiency of cargo receiving and shipping operations, the port recently launched a fully automated equipment system, he said. Although still in test mode, it has already significantly reduced the waiting time for ships. The new technology allows each operator to control up to six cranes - twice as many as before.
According to statistics, Yangpu has opened three new container routes this year - to Shenzhen (Guangdong Province, South China), the Middle East and Vietnam. In total, 48 routes pass through the port, including 25 international routes. At the same time, its throughput capacity is increasing.
The port is part of the larger Yangpu Economic Development Zone in the industrial city of Danzhou and is directly under the provincial government. Yangpu Port accounts for a significant proportion of Hainan's foreign trade turnover and the foreign investment it attracts. According to the official plan, by 2035, this key economic infrastructure facility will become a major hub for distributing cargo flows from various regions of the country to Southeast Asia and Oceania, Europe and North America.