Smart container trucks to deliver 100,000 TEUs in 2022

A smart truck is loaded with the 40,000th container that has been transported by such truck at the Shanghai Yangshan Deep Water Port this year. [Photo/WeChat account: pdnews]

The Shanghai Yangshan Deep Water Port is leading the country in the smart transportation of containers as its "5G+L4" self-driving trucks had transported 40,000 twenty-foot equivalent units this year by Dec 23.

After two years of technology development and upgrading, trial operations and evaluations, the port's smart trucks, which were jointly developed by SAIC Motor, Shanghai International Port Group and China Mobile Shanghai Company, are capable of automatically delivering containers between the Yangshan Port and the deep water port's logistics park crossing the Donghai Bridge.

To date, the trucks have completed the transportation of about 61,000 TEUs. The annual volume is expected to top 100,000 TEUs in 2022.

The smart truck boasts many advantages, such as low emissions and labor costs. It will also help ease the traffic pressure on the Donghai Bridge, which is the only cross-sea pass connecting Yangshan Port to the mainland, according to Fang Huaijin, vice-president of Shanghai International Port Group.

Officials at the Shanghai transport commission said that more efforts will be made in the future to develop a globally leading smart transportation system combining waterways, highways and railways.

"The fourth phase of the Shanghai Yangshan Deep Water Port is currently the world's biggest automated container terminal that had an annual capacity of 5 million TEUs in 2020," said Zhang Xin, vice-president of Shanghai International Port Group.