Recently, a large cargo ship unloaded 176000 tons of Guinea bauxite at Yantai Port in Shandong Province, and loaded 27800 tons of machinery, vehicles, and construction materials back to Africa. So far this year, the freight volume of the China Africa general cargo liner route at Yantai Port has exceeded 8 million tons, a year-on-year increase of 93%, setting a new historical high since the opening of the route in 2015, which will help promote the interconnection and high-quality development of China Africa economic and trade cooperation.

Since this year, under the leadership of the China Africa comprehensive strategic partnership and the joint empowerment of the high-quality joint construction of the "the Belt and Road", the magnitude of China Africa economic and trade cooperation has continued to rise, providing strong supply support for ports to strengthen their incremental business with Africa. Relying on the new positioning of "the starting port of the China Africa logistics golden channel", Yantai Port has deeply explored the two-way supply of goods at home and abroad, expanded the domestic and international markets, established the East African market business unit overseas, and opened up the "last kilometer" of the river, sea, and land intermodal transportation channels, building a three-dimensional logistics network that connects the Yellow River Basin to the west, the Yangtze River to the south, the Northeast hinterland to the north, and directly reaches the African market.

As a hub for general cargo logistics in northern China and a hub for general cargo logistics in Shandong Port, Yantai Port closely follows the "three directions" path of Shandong Port to strengthen the sea, deepen the chain, and empower production. It continues to weave a global network of general cargo routes and accelerate the improvement of the hub's internal and external connectivity. By 2026, five new conditional general cargo shipping routes will be added from Yantai to Algeria, Senegal, Namibia, Djibouti, and Romania, bringing the total number of general cargo shipping routes to 37. Among them, the monthly average number of voyages in the African direction has remained stable at more than 30, covering more than 20 countries and regions in Africa such as Guinea, Tanzania, Nigeria, etc. The density of liner ships continues to lead the country, becoming a friendly bridge and maritime expressway for deep economic and trade cooperation between China and Africa.

During the operation of ships in the port, Yantai Port closely cooperates with port units such as Yantai Customs, Maritime Safety Administration, Exit Entry Border Inspection Station, and Yantai Port Pilot Station to efficiently ensure the "fast berthing, fast loading, and fast departure" of ships. China Unicom International Grocery Terminal Company innovatively builds a "one platform, five centers, five systems" smart ecosystem for the entire process of general cargo, coordinating the efforts of the port, terminal captains, ship owners, cargo owners, and reinforcement parties. It solidly promotes the seamless connection of multiple processes such as process optimization, ship information sharing, on-site deployment, tool selection, and hoisting special team configuration, maximizing the compression of ship stopping at the port. With excellent "mountain port efficiency", it has won high recognition from domestic and foreign customers and continues to polish the world-class professional general cargo terminal brand of "ALL-LIFT China Unicom International".

Author: Zou Changkun