China Merchants Group (CMG), the mainland's leading public port services operator, is pushing a range of automation and digital technologies in its global network, in a major revamp that is expected to cut costs and raise efficiency at these sites.
The state-owned conglomerate's unit, China Merchants Port Holdings, has already initiated these upgrades to its network, starting with operations at the Port of Shenzhen - ranked among the world's busiest container terminals.
On the western coastline of the southern tech hub, CMG's port unit has turned Mawan, a terminal that used to handle break bulk cargo of grains and sandstone, into a showcase that features remote-controlled quay cranes, autonomous-driving container trucks and a digitally managed flow of goods.
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Operating the quay cranes and rubber-tyred gantry cranes used to be the most complicated part for workers at the Mawan terminal, according to She Zhenwu, director of overseas business development at CMG's port unit.
"Now they can operate it all remotely, while sitting in a cosy control room," She told reporters at a briefing on Thursday in Shenzhen.
A bird's-eye view of Mawan terminal, part of the vast Port of Shenzhen in southern Guangdong province. Photo: SCMP alt=A bird's-eye view of Mawan terminal, part of the vast Port of Shenzhen in southern Guangdong province. Photo: SCMP>
CMG's upgraded Mawan operation is the latest example of China's ambition to quickly modernise its vast infrastructure and traditional industries using the latest technologies, including 5G, digital-automation systems and artificial intelligence (AI).
Telecommunications equipment giant Huawei Technologies, for example, has pushed automation in Tianjin, northern China's biggest seaport, with its 5G infrastructure put in place. Huawei has also worked with state-owned Shaanxi Coal Industry to cut by half the number of miners who work 100 metres below ground through the deployment of AI and a 5G mobile network.
Chinese ports' digital transformation is in stark contrast to the situation in the US, where concerns about job losses from automation led to a crippling three-day strike last month by dockworkers - the biggest work stoppage of its kind in nearly half a century - that shut down shipping on the East Coast and Gulf of Mexico.