As the new year begins, the port gets busier. Large ships loaded with cassava starch, soda ash and other products call at the port, and immediately sail to Vietnam after the cargo is loaded and unloaded. Since the end of 2022, Qinzhou Port, Fangcheng Port, and Beihai Tieshan Port in the Beibu Gulf Port have ushered in peak production, and the number of ships arriving at the port has increased significantly.

As an important window for Southwest China to open to the outside world, Beibu Gulf Port has achieved full coverage of major ports in ASEAN. With the in-depth implementation of the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement RCEP and the high-quality joint construction of the Western New Land-Sea Corridor, the Beibu Gulf Port has become an important platform for cross-border logistics and trade between the Western Region and ASEAN countries, and plays a stable role in the regional industrial chain and supply chain. positive effects.

Unimpeded international logistics channels

Ships come and go, and the manual operation of traditional gantry cranes in Qinzhou Port is as busy as usual. Not far away from the container automation terminal, a foreign trade cargo ship is berthed at the berth, and the automatic double-car quay crane is steadily hoisting the container from the ship to the intelligent guided transport vehicle, and the on-site operations are orderly. "The terminal is now in the peak production period, and all berths are operating at full capacity every day." Wei Yibin, deputy manager of the operation department of Guangxi Beibu Gulf International Container Terminal Co., Ltd., said.

Qinzhou Port Container Yard

With the implementation of RCEP, regional economic integration is accelerating, and the demand for logistics has increased significantly. In 2022, the container throughput of Beibu Gulf Port will be 7.0208 million TEUs, a year-on-year increase of 16.78%.

A large demand for cargo promotes the continuous intensification of the route network of the Beibu Gulf Port. In order to ensure the efficient passage of fresh fruits and consumer goods such as Thailand, Vietnam, and Cambodia, Beibu Gulf Port has continuously increased the cultivation of RCEP regional characteristic goods sources, and launched special services such as cold chain express. In 2022, 6 new routes to RCEP member countries will be opened, and there are currently 34 routes connecting China Unicom to ports in RCEP countries. The relevant person in charge of Guangxi Beibu Gulf International Port Group Co., Ltd. said that Beibu Gulf Port will continue to strengthen the RCEP advantageous service routes, increase the cultivation of specialty fruit sources such as durian, mango, and dragon fruit, and focus on developing the supply markets of Thailand, Cambodia, Vietnam and other countries , High-quality services are integrated into RCEP.

Efficient and convenient cargo exchange

At Fangchenggang Wharf, a foreign trade vessel loaded with nearly 180,000 tons of coal slowly entered berth No. 402. The four ship unloaders at the wharf were operating simultaneously to ensure the fastest loading and unloading. Prior to this, the adjacent berth No. 401 was also officially opened to the outside world, and foreign trade ships carrying bulk cargo such as coal and iron ore berthed one after another.

Lu Zongyuan, deputy manager of the coal ore operation department of Beibu Gulf Port Fangchenggang Wharf Co., Ltd., said: "The two 200,000-ton berths are operating non-stop, and the ships are one after the other without interruption. We are improving the layout of the terminal and trying to release the production capacity of the terminal. potential."

Beihai Tieshan Port Wharf is also a busy scene, with 34 gantry cranes and 4 quay cranes standing tall, and the vehicles transporting goods are constantly flowing. A foreign trade ship loaded with nearly 50,000 tons of Thai dried cassava and 38,000 tons of Vietnamese wood chips is unloading at the dock in an orderly manner, delivering the raw materials needed for production in a timely manner for the port-based enterprises. Exported steel and other goods are also under intense shipment.

Beihai Tieshan Port berth operation scene

There will be no off-season since 2022. Zou Jian, deputy general manager of Beibu Gulf Port Beihai Wharf Co., Ltd., said that with the increase of enterprises near the port and customers in the hinterland, the terminal business is getting busier. According to customs data, from January to November 2022, the value of imports and exports along the Western Land-Sea New Corridor via Qinzhou Port reached 100.55 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 98.9%, a record high. Among them, the main import commodities are crude oil, soybean, manganese ore, coal, pulp, etc., and the main export commodities are gasoline, aviation kerosene, food-grade phosphoric acid, white cardboard, etc.

Pull the regional economic engine

In recent years, with the improvement of port infrastructure, Beibu Gulf has become more and more convenient, and its location advantages have become more prominent. A number of well-known enterprises have settled here for production, which has become an important engine to stimulate regional economic development.

Huayi Qinzhou Chemical New Material Integration Base is the largest industrial project that Guangxi has undertaken in recent years for the transfer of eastern industries. It covers the four major industrial chains of modern coal chemical industry, light hydrocarbon cracking, salt chemical industry, and petrochemical downstream. It will be implemented in three phases. Thanks to the mature terminal conditions, the company has benefited a lot from the import of raw materials and the export of products.

Liang Quanyong, deputy general manager of Guangxi Huayi Energy Chemical Co., Ltd., said that Qinzhou Port has a relatively large raw coal terminal. Our raw coal can be directly delivered to the terminal by a large ship without a short barge, and then transported to the factory through a belt, which is very convenient. Qinzhou is also an important distribution center for imported coal in South China. We have tried to use 160,000 tons of imported coal. At present, more than 450,000 tons of products have been sold to more than 10 countries including Singapore, Turkey, India, the United States, and Germany.

Shandong Sun Holding Group Co., Ltd. is a multinational papermaking and forestry-pulp-paper integrated group. In 2019, it invested in the construction of a forestry-pulp-paper integrated project in Beihai. ASEAN is an important raw material import and product export market for the company. Li Gang, deputy general manager of Guangxi Branch, said that relying on the convenient routes between Tieshan Port Terminal and ASEAN countries, as well as preferential tariffs under RCEP, the company’s cost of importing wood chips and chemical additives from ASEAN countries has been greatly reduced. Realize an output value of 10.1 billion yuan.

"The company invests in forest land in Southeast Asia. After entering Beihai, it will further coordinate with the Laos base to form a world-leading high-end papermaking industry chain cluster from raw materials to consumer end products." Li Gang said that in the first 11 months of 2022, the company's product exports The ASEAN countries totaled nearly US$33 million. Editor/He Yuting