At the junction of rivers and seas, port operations are in full swing. During the National Day holiday, ports across the country saw giant vessels coming and going with bustling loading and unloading activity, driving the rapid movement of both domestic and international trade cargo. On the coast of the East China Sea, four giant container ships lined up in formation, with fully automated bridge cranes precisely lifting and lowering containers while over a hundred automated guided vehicles shuttled silently between them. In the first three days of the National Day holiday, the Phase IV automated terminal at Yangshan Deep-Water Port of the Shanghai International Shipping Center completed a cumulative total of over 79,000 TEUs, an increase of 18.7% compared to the same period last year; the total throughput for the seven-day holiday was expected to exceed 180,000 TEUs. "The entire process of ship berthing and departure, cargo loading and unloading, and route connections is intelligently coordinated, maximizing the port area's throughput capacity," said Huang Hua, chief remote operator at Shangdong Branch of Shanghai International Port Group.

As a critical hub connecting domestic and international economic circulation, ports serve as a "barometer" of economic development. In the first eight months of this year, China's total foreign trade imports and exports grew by 17.6% year-on-year; port cargo throughput reached 12.06 billion tons, with foreign trade throughput growing by 2.8% year-on-year. Along the Beibu Gulf, freight trains shuttle back and forth; at the Qinzhou Port area, cargo ships line up in rows. During the National Day holiday, the automated container terminal at Guangxi's Qinzhou Port maintained 24-hour continuous operations, with throughput from October 1 to 7 estimated to reach 45,000 TEUs. On September 16, the Pinglu Canal officially opened to navigation, and the "circle of friends" in this maritime area expanded accordingly: iron ore and auto parts from Yunnan and Guizhou were transported southward to ASEAN via rail-water intermodal transport; coal and bauxite from Guinea and Laos traveled north along the canal into the southwestern hinterland. "The voyage to the sea has been significantly shortened. Recently, we've added many new clients from Guigang, Nanning, and Baise in Guangxi, as well as from Yunnan, Guizhou, and Sichuan," said Zhang Minghe, deputy manager of the Operations Department at Guangxi Qinzhou Bonded Port Area Honggang Terminal Co., Ltd.

Turning to the northeast, on the afternoon of October 7, the Ocean Alliance Europe route vessel "Oriental Sweden" docked steadily at Liaoning's Dalian Container Terminal, with seven loading and unloading lines operating simultaneously. Dalian Container Terminal Co., Ltd. handles over 98% of the foreign trade container volume in Northeast China and opened five new foreign trade routes this year. "Within a docking time of less than 20 hours, we need to complete the loading and unloading of nearly 4,900 TEUs," said Qiu Li, duty manager of the Operations Department at Dalian Container Terminal Co., Ltd. During the National Day holiday, the container terminal maintained consistently high operational volumes, with total loading and unloading expected to grow by about 20% year-on-year. "There are grains bound for southern provinces as well as precision instruments, complete vehicles, and equipment parts destined for Europe."

During the National Day holiday, port upgrades continued without pause. At Shanghai Port's third automated terminal, construction at the Xiaoyangshan North Operation Area proceeded at full speed, with all five automated shore bridges in place. Qin Tao, deputy chief commander of the Engineering Command at Shanghai International Port Group, explained that this brand-new automated terminal will iteratively upgrade the new-generation smart operations management system for automated terminals independently developed by Shanghai International Port Group. At the Qinzhou Port automated container terminal, five 5,000-ton-class automated container berths for river-sea intermodal transport are under simultaneous construction, with large boring machines roaring continuously. Soon, river vessels from the Pinglu Canal will be able to berth alongside sea-going ships, and cargo will achieve "water-to-water transfer with direct unloading and loading" through gantry cranes, belt conveyors, floating cranes, and other equipment, reducing the steps of ground handling and warehousing while greatly increasing efficiency. China has already built and put into operation 60 automated terminals nationwide, including 30 automated container terminals, accounting for 27% of the global total. The automated terminals at Shanghai Port and Shandong's Qingdao Port have achieved a maximum single-machine operating efficiency exceeding 60 natural containers per hour, and the average time in port for international container vessels at major coastal ports stands at 1.7 days.