Shandong Port Group adheres to green and low-carbon development. [Photo provided to chinadaily.com.cn]

Recently, the State Council, China's Cabinet, has released a guideline supporting Shandong province to deepen the transformation of growth drivers and advance high-quality green and low-carbon development.

The guideline has commended Shandong's achievements in converting old growth drivers into to new ones, which has brought huge opportunities for the province to accelerate its pace in promoting reform and development. Meanwhile, the guideline has also mentioned Shandong Port Group (SPG) when it comes to adhering to a clean, low-carbon, safe, and highly efficient energy system, and improving the energy and transport structure, which has charted the course forward for SPG to play an even bigger role in building world-class sea ports and a world-class port cluster. In this context, SPG will better serve Shandong's growth driver transformation and help advance high-quality green and low-carbon development.

SPG: A leader in developing new growth drivers in Shandong

The State Council approved Shandong to build the comprehensive pilot area of shifting economic growth drivers in January 2018. For the province, ports are strategically important as they have the biggest advantages, promote opening-up and serve as integral parts of Shandong. The CPC Shandong Provincial Committee and Shandong Provincial People's Government established SPG on Aug 6, 2019, endowing SPG with the responsibility to replace Shandong's traditional drivers with new ones, advance high-quality development and help build a strong maritime province.

SPG's cargo volumes surpassed 1 billion metric tons for three consecutive years since 2019. Its cargo volume exceeded 1.5 billion tons and container throughput topped 34 million TEUs in 2021, ranking first and third across the world, respectively. It has opened 325 shipping routes, 30 inland ports and 80 freight lines. It has maintained the first position in sea-rail intermodal transportation capacity among national coastal ports. Its four port groups continue to compete for the best global and national rankings. Qingdao Port's cargo throughput jumped to fourth place globally, Rizhao Port ranked ninth among global ports, Yantai Port still holds the eighth position nationally, and Bohai Bay Port doubled its cargo volume.

In Shandong's critical juncture of achieving breakthroughs in converting old growth drivers into new ones within five years, SPG has continued to expand its role as a pivotal shipping hub and create high-end industrial and value chains. It has played a key role in gaining an upper hand in marine industry development and helping bolster the transformation of old growth drivers into new ones.

SPG: A demonstrator for Shandong's green and low-carbon development

The third section of the guideline states that efforts should be made to improve the multimodal transport system, and shift more bulk commodity transport from roads to railways and shipping. It supported Qingdao Port to expand the utilization of hydrogen energy, encouraging Rizhao Port to become a demonstration port that is smart and green for dry bulk cargo. As such, "green and low-carbon" has become a key word of the guideline.

"Smart and green" has always been seen as a defining feature of SPG's high-quality development.

As China's first pilot unit for smart port construction, SPG has become a leader in the construction of smart and green ports. It has established a "1+N" mode with open and joint contributions and shared benefits to accelerate digital transformation. It took the lead in building the world's first intelligent air-track transport system, the world's first side-loading and parallel-layout fully automated container terminal, the world's first fully automated control system for specialized dry bulk terminal, and a smart pipeline system for crude oil transport.

SPG: Seizing new opportunities to build world-class seaports

By 2027, Shandong plans to achieve major breakthroughs in converting old growth drivers into new ones, building the province into a pioneering area for high-quality green and low-carbon development, and providing successful practices that can be repeated and promoted, according to the guideline, which dovetails with SPG's reform and development goals. 

Moving forward, SPG plans to focus on growing into an international shipping hub in Northeast Asia by strengthening collaboration and interaction with Tianjin, Hebei, Jiangsu and other coastal provinces and cities, as part of efforts to improve its position as a pivotal shipping hub. By 2027, the company is expected to increase the total number of shipping routes to 400, open 60 inland ports and launch over 110 freight lines. The overall aim is to realize its shift from a destination port to a hub port, and transform into a world-class port cluster.