The Conference on Promoting World-class Smart and Green Ports Development in Shandong was held on June 2 in the eastern coastal city of Qingdao.

More than 100 guests from government departments, universities and institutes, enterprises and financial institutions attended the event to promote cooperation and conduct technical discussion in a bid to facilitate the development of smart and green ports in China.

A conference is held in Qingdao, Shandong province to promote world-class smart, green port development. [Photo/qingdaonews.com]

Shandong Port Group (SPG) is the country's first pilot unit to promote smart port construction approved by the Ministry of Transport.  

Established last August, SPG has integrated the major ports in Shandong, including Qingdao Port, Yantai Port, Rizhao Port and the Bohai Bay Port Group, to bolster the province's opening-up and foster a world-class port conglomerate.

SPG has been ramping efforts to build green and smart ports by unified planning and utilizing forefront management practices and advanced technology.

The automatic dock of the Qingdao Port [Photo/Sipa]

The second project of the fully automated container terminal at Qingdao Port was put into operation last November, with handling capacity reaching 1.7 million TEUs (20-foot equivalent units) per year.

The port operators estimated that using hydrogen energy could reduce electricity consumption for the transportation of every container by 3.6 percent.

SPG has made great strides in building world-class ports. It has adopted measures to boost service capacities, promote low-carbon energy consumption, speed up intelligent logistics and optimize the business environment.

In addition, it has adopted a slew of measures to accelerate customs clearance, such as paperless processing, simplified procedures and streamlined regulations and reduced restrictions. This would in turn reduce costs for customers.

SPG has also attached great importance to ecology restoration and improvement so as to promote green and sustainable development.