On August 25, the 2026 Conference on Accelerating the Construction of a Nation with Strong Transportation Networks was held in Wuhan, Hubei Province, where the Ministry of Transport released 12 exemplary cases from its pilot program for building national transportation strength.
The pilot initiative serves as a key mechanism to advance the development of a robust transportation system. To further promote the outcomes and experiences of these pilots and leverage their demonstrative role, the Ministry of Transport organized a selection process for typical cases. The announced cases focus on six key areas, including the construction of a modern, high-quality, and comprehensive three-dimensional transportation network, integrated development, safety enhancement, digital and intelligent upgrades, green transformation, and deepening of institutional reforms. From over 200 completed pilot tasks, and after recommendations from pilot guidance units, two rounds of expert reviews, and final approval by the Ministry of Transport's leadership group, 12 cases were ultimately selected for 2026.
These cases closely align with the industry's key development priorities, achieving innovative breakthroughs in multiple fields and offering strong potential for replication and reference. Among them, the case of Qingdao's smart port fully automated container terminal was selected.
With the rapid growth of China's national economy, port cargo throughput has risen year by year, making efficient and intelligent fully automated container terminals an essential part of the modern comprehensive transportation system. However, due to the late start of automated container terminal construction in China, the early research phase faced three major challenges: first, a lack of overall design and construction theories and methods, compounded by long-term Western technological blockades that left no domestic experience to draw upon; second, the absence of a core production control "brain," making comprehensive resource scheduling difficult; and third, heavy reliance on imports for large-scale automated equipment electronic control systems and intelligent sensing components.
To address these issues, Qingdao Port focused on the critical needs for efficient, intelligent, and domestically produced terminals. Through over a decade of collaborative industry-academia-research efforts, and by achieving technological breakthroughs in layout planning, control system development, and automated equipment manufacturing, the port built Asia's first fully automated container terminal, the world's first "hydrogen + 5G" smart green terminal, and the nation's first fully domestically produced and independently operated automated terminal, leading the global port industry toward intelligent, efficient, safe, and green development.
With independent controllability at its core, Qingdao Port established comprehensive construction methods, design systems, and technical standards, developed its own全域智能码头管控核心系统 (port-wide intelligent terminal control core system), and overcame challenges in domestic intelligent complete equipment technology. The terminal achieves a throughput of over 320,000 TEUs per 100 meters of shoreline, repeatedly setting new records for automated container terminal handling efficiency. It also makes extensive use of clean energy sources such as solar and hydrogen power, driving the transition of ports from automation to digitalization and green integrated development.
Numerous innovative achievements have accelerated the rapid upgrade and iteration of industry-related products and technologies, promoting a virtuous cycle between the supply and demand sides of the industrial chain. This has established a self-controllable supply chain guarantee system for core smart port equipment, effectively fostering collaborative innovation and overall growth across the upstream and downstream of the domestic port machinery industry chain.
Under the Belt and Road Initiative and the "dual circulation" development strategy, Qingdao Port is sharing its advanced smart port technologies and mature solutions with the world, serving as a model for achieving high-level technological self-reliance and cultivating new quality productive forces.