The fully automated container terminal at Qingdao Port of Shandong Port Group, the first of its kind in Asia, achieved average efficiency of 47.6 moves of TEUs per hour for single crane on Thursday, setting a new world record for the sixth time.

Previously the record set by the Qingdao, Shandong province-based port operator in April stood at 44.6 moves per hour.

An aerial view of the fully automated container terminal at Qingdao Port of Shandong Port Group. It is the first of its kind in Asia. [Photo provided to chinadaily.com.cn]

Different from traditional ports powered by manual labor, the fully automated container terminal uses only robots and machines to load and unload shipping containers.

When it was officially opened in May 11, 2017, the terminal could handle 26.1 containers per hour. The operating team has continued to improve efficiency.