TOWED by several tugboats, a massive cargo vessel moved steadily toward the berth, docking with precision at the Qianwan container terminal of Qingdao Port, East China’s Shandong province.
On April 4, as the vessel berthed successfully, Qingdao Port, under Shandong Port Group welcomed the maiden voyage of a newly launched Southeast Asia route by Maersk, injecting fresh momentum into the port’s connectivity with Belt and Road partner countries in Southeast Asia.
The route runs on a weekly schedule with six vessels of 2,500 TEUs (twenty-foot equivalent units) each, ensuring stable capacity. It links key ports in the Philippines, Malaysia and Indonesia, supporting imports of Southeast Asian agricultural products and raw materials, while facilitating exports of Chinese chemical and electromechanical goods, improving two-way trade efficiency.
As an important node city along the economic corridor of the New Eurasian Land Bridge and a strategic pivot for maritime cooperation, Qingdao has continued to advance the construction of the China-proposed Belt and Road Initiative (BRI).
With upgrades in port capacity, expansion and quality improvement of China-Europe freight trains and deepening reforms, the coastal city is transforming from a logistics hub into a regional economic engine.
Empowered by the sea
Qianwan Port is a fully automated container terminal. On site, there is no dust or noise. Automated quay cranes steadily unload containers from giant vessels, while nearly silent electric automatic-guided-vehicles (AGVs) shuttle in an orderly manner between loading points.
Wang Jisheng, deputy manager of the terminal’s operations department, said the terminal has a shoreline of 2,088 meters, equipped with 18 quay cranes, 85 AGVs and 94 high-speed rail-mounted gantry cranes. Overall operational efficiency has increased by 30 percent compared with traditional terminals.
“The average loading and unloading efficiency has reached 36.2 TEUs per hour, while the average single-crane efficiency stands at 62.62 TEUs per hour,” Wang said. “The terminal has broken the world record for automated terminal efficiency 13 times.”
As China’s first fully domestically developed automated terminal, with six berths capable of accommodating 200,000-ton container ships, the facility highlights Qingdao Port’s infrastructure strength as the world’s fourth-largest port and China’s second-largest foreign trade port.
At present, Qingdao Port has opened more than 50 Southeast Asia routes, ranking first among northern Chinese ports, forming a high-frequency network covering major Asean ports and providing solid support for the stability and smooth operation of regional industrial and supply chains, according to the port.
At the end of March, the first vessel on a new North Africa route exclusively operated by Cosco Shipping completed docking at the Qianwan Port. The ship carried 606 TEUs of domestically produced engineering machinery, auto parts and electronic appliances, departing for ports in Egypt and Libya.
This route is the only mainstream liner service in the market that directly connects the three major North African ports. Compared with traditional routes, it shortens transport time by nearly 10 days, significantly reducing comprehensive logistics costs for foreign trade enterprises.
Data from local customs showed that in the first quarter of 2026, the total import and export value at Qingdao Port reached about 670.5 billion yuan ($98.36 billion), up approximately 6.1 percent year on year. Exports to Asean, and Belt and Road partner countries reached 124.5 billion yuan and 421.74 billion yuan, up about 11.1 percent and 9.7 percent, respectively.
Qingdao Port also opened six other routes in the first quarter, covering key regions including Southeast Asia, Australia, Africa and Central and South America.
A representative for Qingdao Port said the pace of new route expansion far exceeds that of the same period last year, effectively easing booking pressure for import and export enterprises, lowering logistics costs and stabilizing the resilience of cross-border supply chains.
Qingdao Port now operates nearly 240 foreign trade routes in total, maintaining its leading position among northern Chinese ports. It is connected with more than 700 ports in over 180 countries and regions, achieving precise coverage of Belt and Road partner countries, the RCEP (Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership) region and emerging markets.
