Delegates get to work at the Quality Liner Service Customer Service Conference. [Photo/WeChat account: Shandong-Port]

Shandong Port Group or SPG – one of the world's biggest port operators, based in Qingdao city in East China's Shandong province – is further expanding its business footprint globally.

It recently combined forces with Beibu Gulf Port in southern China's Guangxi Zhuang autonomous region, to hold the Quality Liner Service Customer Service Conference. The event attracted the participation of more than 40 carriers and cargo owners from regions including Beijing, Shanghai, Shandong and Guangxi.

By jointly rolling out the "Quality Liner Service", the two ports aim to turn into each other's pivots in north-south trade and become key hubs for quality resources to move southwards and northwards. It is expected that this will help them seize the development opportunities presented by the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership, turn geographical advantages into development strengths and add new growth drivers for expanding the influences and outcomes of the Belt and Road Initiative.

In 2019, the National Development and Reform Commission released an overall plan on the country's new western land-sea corridor. The initiative revealed the significance of the new western land-sea corridor – which links the Silk Road Economic Belt to the north, connects the 21st Century Maritime Silk Road to the south and borders the Yangtze River Economic Belt. As such, the corridor is strategically located for coordinating regional development.

Beibu Gulf Port serves as a gateway for the new western land-sea corridor, while SPG acts as the most efficient hub for the regions along the Yellow River basin. The economies of the two ports are said to be highly complementary and resources are greatly matched, showcasing tremendous potential for bilateral cooperation.

In fact, the two ports have already conducted business in recent years. Last November, SPG signed a strategic cooperation accord with Beibu Gulf Port and as a result four direct domestic container services at the two ports were launched. Maritime traffic between them topped 450,000 TEUs, or twenty-foot equivalent container units in 2020, an increase of over 40 percent year-on-year. They also have worked together to advance the shift of the region's transport model from bulk transport to container traffic for domestic trade, with nearly 100,000 TEUs being handled last year, double that in 2019.

During the event, the two ports deepened their all-round cooperation – ranging from traditional business to emerging business, as well as sea-rail and sea-river multimodal transport. By doing so, they aim to amplify their roles as hubs for converging resources and connecting inland ports in the hinterland areas.

The goal is to unclog a logistics channel for multimodal transport that traverses the north-south connection and covers most areas of the central and western regions.

To provide better services for national strategies – as well as for the regional economic development of Guangxi and Shandong and their customers – is without doubt the original strategic intention and goal of the moves made by the two ports to boost their connectivity.

"Both Beibu Gulf Port and SPG are strategically located, in terms of serving the overall national development strategies and the new development pattern," said SPG Chairman Huo Gaoyuan. Huo added that the two parties needed to strengthen in-depth collaboration – in areas including logistics, finance and trade – to offer more convenient logistics solutions and comprehensive services for their partners, thus making greater contributions to the country's future development.

Building world-class seaports and serving national strategies and the country's development paradigm is the common vision shared by SPG and Beibu Gulf Port. Moving ahead, the two ports are expected to achieve new heights in high-quality development, through more focused policies, comprehensive measures, better port services and an efficient and dynamic business environment.