Oct 22 The 2021 Qingdao Land-Sea Linkage Forum, sponsored by the Shandong government – and jointly organized by the Qingdao municipal government, the Shandong Department of Transport and SPG – was held in Qingdao on Oct 22. At the forum, three important indexes were published by the China Economic Information Service and SPG.

Oct 9 marked a major milestone for Rizhao Port, with the opening there of the world's first side-loading and parallel-layout fully automated container terminal. The new terminal is widely considered in the global maritime industry to be a shining example of the transformation and upgrading by SPG of conventional terminals to fully automated container terminals.

September Self-developed by the Liangang innovation team at Qingdao Port, the advanced "one-to-many" control system of the world's first automated bridge crane was successfully launched and passed testing, marking a breakthrough made by SPG in the field of remote crane controls for automated terminals. As a result, the port has witnessed solid progress in shifting from a fully automated terminal to a fully smart terminal.

Aug 24 The fully automated container terminal at Qingdao Port on Aug 24 set a new world efficiency record for the seventh time while handling the cargo of container ship MSC MARTINA, with its average efficiency reaching 52.1 moves per hour of TEUs – or twenty-foot equivalent units – with a single crane. That performance smashed the previous record of 47.6 moves per hour of TEUs set by the terminal last Dec 17.

July 29 With its theme of "Build New Platforms, Share New Opportunities, Win-Win New Area", the 2021 Shandong Port Petroleum Trade Conference was staged in Qingdao on July 29. At the forum, four platforms were launched by SPG. The aim is to seek the convergence of the trade business by working with various partners, forging stronger strategic partnerships and advancing the transformation and upgrading of Shandong's petrochemicals industry.

July 24 Shandong Gainsense Futures Co Ltd – a subsidiary of Shandong Port Group, or SPG, which is the 150th futures company to be formed in China – was officially inaugurated on July 24 in Qingdao city. With a registered capital of 1 billion yuan ($154.2 million), the company is seen as being significant in paving the way for an integrated port and shipping financial service system that will galvanize the Northeast Asia region. It is also seen as being seminal in building an internationally advanced finance and trade port by SPG, one of the biggest ports operators in the world, which is based in Qingdao.

June 29 The completion ceremony for the world's first air-track intelligent transport demonstration system took place on June 29 at Qingdao Port, operated by the Shandong Port Group or SPG – one of the world's biggest port operators, based in the port city of Qingdao in East China's Shandong province.

June 5 Shandong Port Group announced its green and low-carbon development plan in the 14th Five-Year Plan period (2021-25) at a news conference on June 5 in Qingdao. It was the first operator in the nation's port and shipping sector to issue such plan.

March 31 According to the latest data from the Ministry of Transport and the Shanghai International Shipping Research Center released on March 31, total cargo throughput in 2020 of Qingdao Port reached 605 million tons – up 4.7 percent year-on-year and ranking it fifth in the world.  Total container throughput reached 21.01 million TEUs, up 4.7 percent year-on-year, ranking it sixth in the world and first in Northeast Asia. 

March 29 Both Qingdao Port and Rizhao Port released their 2020 annual reports at the end of March. Last year, powered by integration reforms at SPG, the two subsidiaries posted prosperous sets of numbers for both cargo throughput and financial results.

March 24 SPG on March 24 held the strategically important 2021 Port & Shipping Seminar on the High-quality Development of Container Business in the city of Shanghai.