At the Xuzhou Huaihai International Land Port Container Consolidation Center, a scene of bustling yet orderly activity unfolds: trailers shuttle back and forth across the yard, reach stackers load and unload cargo with precision and efficiency, and containers circulate in an orderly flow within the stacking area, exuding a vibrant atmosphere of highly efficient operation. Since the beginning of this year, the consolidation center has achieved remarkable operational results. To date, the cumulative container throughput has exceeded 25,200 TEUs, an increase of 83.57% compared to the same period last year, surpassing the total volume for the entire previous year. The annual task target was achieved ahead of schedule, setting a new historical high since the start of its operations.
“We have continuously promoted hardware upgrades and service optimization, achieving improvements in both operational scale and quality at the Container Consolidation Center,” introduced Li Jingying, the person in charge of the operations at the Xuzhou Huaihai International Land Port Container Consolidation Center.
In April of this year, through the careful planning and strong promotion of the Xuzhou Huaihai International Port Area (hereinafter referred to as the Port Area), the Xuzhou Huaihai International Land Port Container Consolidation Center successfully completed its expansion, nearly tripling in size. On the basis of hardware expansion, the service functions of the consolidation center were also simultaneously expanded and upgraded. From the initial basic services such as container pickup, return, and storage, it has gradually expanded into diversified service areas including /stripping and cold chain, establishing a full-chain system of “basic services + value-added services,” effectively supporting the container needs of diverse transport services such as China-Europe Railway Express, rail-sea intermodal transport, and domestic railway services.
Building on hardware expansion and service diversification, digital empowerment has further injected new momentum into the development of the Container Consolidation Center. This year, the consolidation center successfully introduced the Lianyungang Electronic Port Container Management System, achieving comprehensive informatized management. This system has not only significantly improved yard space utilization and container turnover efficiency but has also greatly optimized the customer service experience. For local enterprises in Xuzhou, the consolidation center is now like a fully-functional “logistics supermarket,” where companies can conveniently “select” empty containers according to their needs, freeing them from cumbersome processes and truly enjoying the development dividends brought by accelerated logistics and reduced costs.
Furthermore, the consolidation center is deeply integrated into the train operation system, undertaking the critical role of “front-end train integration and scheduling,” achieving a transformation and upgrade from a traditional container yard to a collaborative hub for train operations. At the consolidation center, containers can be pre-allocated and stacked according to the train operation schedules, ensuring smooth, precise, and efficient connections in the cargo loading process for the trains, greatly improving their operational efficiency and punctuality rate.
Xuzhou Huaihai International Land Port Container Consolidation Center. Provided by Huaihai International Port Area.
In recent years, the Port Area has continuously focused on expanding its cooperation network, building a comprehensive container service system integrating multiple advantages. By connecting with industry resources and obtaining container management authorization from over ten international shipping companies, it provides multimodal transport bills of lading with Xuzhou as the place of origin for surrounding enterprises, further helping them reduce costs and increase efficiency; it has attracted dozens of leading domestic and international container operating enterprises to deploy container resources at the Xuzhou Land Port Container Consolidation Center, providing companies with more flexible and efficient container usage solutions; among these, signing ICT container management agreements with Lianyungang Port and Hulian has realized the “port empty container pre-positioning” function, saving approximately 15% in comprehensive container usage costs, strongly promoting the construction of the Xuzhou-Lianyungang Empty Container Center; cooperating with leading industry enterprises to carry out container leasing business, optimizing empty container resource allocation, and effectively reducing logistics costs; cooperating with relevant enterprises to complete “empty container sales” business, solving the problems of cumbersome, time-consuming, and costly traditional allocation processes.
Huaihai International Land Port Railway Distribution Center. Provided by Huaihai International Port Area.
From scale expansion to service extension, from system upgrades to multi-party collaboration, the consolidation center has rapidly grown from a single storage yard into a “multi-functional hub” that activates regional logistics vitality, outlining a new paradigm for the high-quality development of multimodal transport through innovative practices, providing a vivid example for inland ports moving towards the open forefront. Today, the Xuzhou Huaihai International Land Port Container Consolidation Center has formed a full-chain service system covering container consolidation and dispatch, /stripping, pickup and return, storage, and tallying. It deeply integrates intelligent information management systems, consolidation and distribution operation areas, and innovative formats like cold chain logistics, becoming a “one-stop” logistics service platform.
In the future, the Port Area will continue its efforts, persistently expanding its cooperation network, strengthening resource integration and functional aggregation, fully advancing the construction of an international container source sharing base centered in Xuzhou, and fully supporting the enhancement of the Land Port’s logistics hub functions, injecting stronger momentum into the development of the Land Port’s characteristic multimodal transport. (Contributed by: Liang Bing, Wang Bing)
