From January to June this year, Shandong Port Group's total cargo throughput exceeded 700 million tons, with a year-on-year growth of 7.1 percent, according to official statistics.

During the period, it handled 14.78 million Twenty Foot Equivalent Units, or TEUs, the standard-size containers, year-on-year growth of 2.5 percent.

According to Li Fengli, general manager of Shandong Port Group, the company has worked with shipping companies, as well as its counterpart ports and railway departments, to ensure a sufficient supply of vehicles, goods and containers and to help sustain the global supply chain that has been hit hard by the novel coronavirus pandemic.

A fully automated terminal at Qingdao Port gets busy handling containers on July 7. [Photo/dzwww.com]

Li said his company has been ramping up efforts with global leading shipping companies to open new routes and increase shipping capacity at ports in Shandong.

Since the start of the year, it has opened 14 new container routes, bringing the total to nearly 300, ranking it first in terms of quantity in northern ports.

The company has also been promoting combined sea-railway transportation and it has set up 11 railway logistics parks across Shandong.

This year, five container sea-rail combined freight lines and five international cross-border freight lines were added. Officials said optimal customs clearances for inland ports had been realized in Shandong.

Containers are neatly stacked at Qingdao Port in Shandong province. [Photo/dzwww.com]

Moreover, the group expanded its connections to inland cities, including Xi'an in Shaanxi province and Lanzhou in Gansu province, as well as with cities such as Jinan and Zaozhuang.

Officials said that amid the pandemic, the company had launched measures to cut fees for businesses, to help them tide over the challenging period. According to Li, the company also opened fast track lanes and special service windows to speed up the clearing process for imports related to epidemic prevention and control.

Li said his group would continue to expand its operations into the country's inland areas, bolster the province's opening-up and pursue its efforts become a world-class port conglomerate.