An air-track intelligent transportation system moved a container at Qingdao Port of Shandong Port Group in Qingdao, Shandong province on June 29, marking the system going into operation. The innovative system will make moving containers at ports more efficient.

An air-track intelligent transportation system moves containers at Qingdao Port on June 29. [Photo by Zhang Jingang/provided to chinadaily.com.cn]

The world's first air-track intelligent transportation system marks a significant step forward in the country's construction of intelligent ports, said industry insiders.

The first phase of the transportation system project, spanning a length of 620 meters, demonstrates a safer, more efficient, environmentally friendly, and more economical transportation method.

The world's first air-track intelligent transportation system is in place at Qingdao Port. [Photo by Zhang Jingang/provided to chinadaily.com.cn]

With the new air-track intelligent transportation system, containers at Qingdao Port can be transported directly from the yard on air to the rail port, without loading and unloading them on the ground. It realizes "zero transfer" among ports, land, and railways in terms of container transportation.

The project was jointly developed by Qingdao Port and CRRC Yangtze Co Ltd, leveraging advanced technologies like 5G, artificial intelligence, big data, as well as the BeiDou satellite navigation system.

After the project's completion, the multi-port transportation route will be 9.5 kilometers long.

The New Qianwan Container Terminal at Qingdao Port is home to Asia's first fully automated port. [Photo by Zhang Jingang/provided to chinadaily.com.cn]