In mid-autumn, the sea breeze is cool in the Xugouxi working area of ​​Lianyungang Port. Next to berth No. 67, the more than 200-meter-long " " wheel is close to the shoreline. The car drives down the ramp into the cabin, and the sound of wheel friction and whistles interweave into a busy morning song. "This ship berthed at 7 o'clock last night and has loaded more than 600 cars. It will load a total of 1,200 cars, more than 70 construction machinery and 470 construction vehicles, and will sail directly to Europe." Liu Qi, deputy captain of the production team of the Xugou West Operation Area, shuttled between the traffic flow while holding the dispatch table.

In the storage yard behind the pier, new cars are continuously delivered by cage cars directly connected to the railway. Cars, wind turbine blades, etc. are stacked neatly in sections, like a steel square array. "This year, 194 ro-ro ships have been operated and 269,800 vehicles have been exported. The proportion of new energy vehicles has continued to increase, and the number of operating lines has increased from 17 to 24 in the same period last year." Liu Qi's words confirmed the strong momentum of vehicle exports at the port. At present, Lianyungang Port has opened 18 international ro-ro routes, connecting European, American and Southeast Asian markets. Vehicle export volume has long been at the forefront of the country, and "Made in China" is heading to the world from here.

As a key node in the new Asia-Europe land-sea intermodal transport channel, Lianyungang Port has built a three-dimensional network of "sea-rail intermodal transport and internal and external linkage". In terms of maritime transport, it has opened 99 container routes, 29 general cargo ro-ro routes, and 2 China-Korea passenger and cargo liner routes; for land transport, it has opened 6 international train routes for five Central Asian countries, China, Germany, and China and Russia, covering major stations in Central Asia. The cross-border trade business of Japan, South Korea, Southeast Asia, and Central Asia accounts for more than 60%, and it is firmly ranked as the first port for cross-border transportation in the country.

In the third quarter of this year, Lianyungang Port's throughput hit a historical peak for three consecutive months, with a year-on-year increase of 6.7%. Iron ore, laterite nickel ore, machinery and equipment and other cargo categories performed outstandingly. Behind this report card is the port’s initiative to deeply integrate into the joint construction of the “Belt and Road”. To the north, the "Polar Silk Road" Arctic route successfully made its maiden voyage to Arkhangelsk, Russia, which is about 9,000 nautical miles shorter than the traditional route, opening up an efficient channel for China-Europe trade; to the south, the "Lianyungang-Haiphong-Ho Chi Minh" Vietnam route was put into operation, connecting Vietnam's north and south economic zones in a "one port, two ports" model, and densifying the Southeast Asia route network.

The continuous densification of the inland logistics network has allowed the "port to the sea" function to continue to extend inland. "Lianshen Express" traffic volume increased by 29.6% year-on-year from January to September; the "Lianyungang-Bengbu Port" foreign trade land-to-water business was launched, reducing domestic transportation costs by more than 30% in northern Anhui; the "Lianyungang-Jining" inland river container direct Air and Lianyungang trains are in normal operation... The "road-to-rail road-to-water" combination model and the "one order system" service work together to build an efficient collection and distribution system. The service effect of "entering Lianyungang is entering Shanghai Port" has become increasingly prominent.

Driven by the "three-node integration" operation of China-Kazakhstan (Lianyungang) Logistics Cooperation Base, Horgos-Dongmen Dry Port, and Aktau Hub, the efficiency of intercontinental transportation continues to improve. In July, 10 broad-gauge railways at the East Gate Waterless Port of Kazakhstan were put into operation, promoting the quality and expansion of the "Trans-Caspian International Transport Corridor"; in August, the China-Kyrgyzstan-Uzbekistan rail-road intermodal transport was launched for the first time, optimizing the customs clearance process to achieve seamless connection; in September, ferrochrome, Kazakhstan wheat and other goods arrived at the port intensively, setting a peak for unloading at the base in a single week. From January to September this year, Lianyungang international trains operated a total of 682 times, witnessing the busy landing bridge channel.

In the port, a 400,000-ton bulk carrier berthed steadily with the assistance of tugs, carrying resources from Brazil; the titanium sponges from Kazakhstan shipped by China-Europe trains were assembled here and shipped to Thailand by sea - such a scene of "sea in and land out, land in and sea out" has become the norm. The reform of customs clearance facilitation has doubled the efficiency. Through the "single window" of international trade through "Port and Shipping", enterprises can complete customs, maritime and other multi-departmental procedures with "one-click declaration", achieving "zero threshold" for cargo owners and "zero waiting time" for logistics, significantly reducing agency costs.

This open vitality comes from deep accumulation. On December 1, 1992, Lianyungang launched the country's first international container train; on May 19, 2014, the China-Kazakhstan (Lianyungang) Logistics Cooperation Base was completed and put into operation, becoming the first physical platform for China and Kazakhstan to jointly build the "Silk Road Economic Belt". Today, trains are running through the base in a staggered manner, transporting Zhejiang curtains, Shandong tires, and Japanese and Korean auto parts to Central Asia and Europe, and then transporting Uzbekistan kidney beans and Kazakhstan ferroalloys back. More than 80% of Kazakhstan’s daily consumer goods, exported mineral products, and grain transiting through China are collected and distributed through Lianyungang Port.

"We pioneered the China-Europe freight train's 'bonded export' cargo mixed model, which has reduced transportation costs by more than 70% for enterprises." Kong Xiangwei, deputy general manager of Lianyungang China-Kazakhstan International Logistics Co., Ltd., said that the base has strengthened its international transfer function, forming a virtuous cycle of westbound cargo sources such as electronic products and daily necessities and eastbound cargo sources such as wheat and potash fertilizer, stabilizing the "restart, repeat" pattern of the train.

"Striving to be the first in promoting deep reforms and high-level opening up." During this year's National Two Sessions, General Secretary Xi Jinping's important speech when participating in the deliberation of the Jiangsu delegation was resounding, injecting strong momentum into Jiangsu's promotion of deep reforms and high-level opening up. Setting the trend and striving to be the first, as an important window for Jiangsu's opening up to the outside world, Lianyungang Port is not only a cargo transportation hub, but also a vivid epitome of deep-seated reform and high-level opening-up with practical actions of route expansion, model innovation, and network weaving, demonstrating Jiangsu's responsibility to connect internal and external affairs and have the world in mind.

>>>Reporter’s Notes

China Unicom connects inside and outside with the world in mind

As the eastern starting point of the New Eurasian Continental Bridge Economic Corridor, every throughput refresh and every route expansion of Lianyungang Port are vivid footnotes to Jiangsu’s practice of deep reform and high-level opening up.

Since the "14th Five-Year Plan", this port has solved problems through institutional innovation, empowered through channel construction, and gathered strength through coordinated development. In a two-way open coordinate system, this port has handed over an answer sheet that has both "Jiangsu's mind" and "practical temperature".

Reform provides confidence for opening up, and institutional innovation is the key to improving port efficiency. In response to the many customs clearance procedures and high costs for foreign trade enterprises, Lianyungang Port has launched the "Single Window" for international trade with the characteristics of "Port and Shipping", which merges multi-department declarations into "one-click submission", allowing cargo owners to declare with "zero threshold" and logistics to operate with "zero waiting time". This move not only clears up departmental information blockages, but also significantly reduces customs clearance time, directly reducing the overall cost of the enterprise. From opening the first international container train to innovating the "bonded export" mixed model of China-Europe trains, Lianyungang Port has always solved problems through reform, making the door open more smoothly.

The depth of the opening depends on the breadth and accuracy of channel construction. The unique advantage of Lianyungang Port lies in its “sea-land two-way” hub positioning. During the "14th Five-Year Plan" period, a dense three-dimensional channel network continued to be woven here: to the north, the Arctic route of the "Polar Silk Road" was opened and seasonal restrictions were broken; to the south, the routes to Southeast Asia became increasingly dense. Looking at the westbound trains, the six lines connect the main stations in Central Asia, especially the "three-node integrated" operation of the China-Kazakhstan Logistics Cooperation Base. More than 80% of Kazakhstan's transit cargo must be turned over at Lianyungang Port. This layout of "mutual assistance between east and west, linkage between land and sea" not only makes Lianyungang Port the number one port for cross-border transportation in the country, but also extends Jiangsu's open radiation to countries co-constructed by the "Belt and Road", realizing "one port connecting the world".

To promote deeper opening up, Lianyungang Port’s attempt does not stop at the channel itself, but turns opening up into an industrial ecology. The road was converted to railway and then to waterway, so the collection and distribution system ran faster; the China-Kazakhstan logistics cooperation base allowed westbound electronic goods to cross-flow with eastbound minerals and grains, and the trains "restarted" with cargo... This is a vivid practice of Jiangsu's "striving to be the first in promoting in-depth reform and high-level opening up" - Lianyungang Port not only achieved an outstanding performance of 6.7% year-on-year growth in throughput in the third quarter, but also became a key node connecting the domestic and international dual circulation.

It is not difficult to see from the development trajectory of Lianyungang Port that deep reform and high-level opening up are never isolated: reform clears obstacles for opening up, and opening up injects impetus into reform. The practice of this port is not only the epitome of Jiangsu's integration into the world with an open attitude based on the intersection of the "Belt and Road"; it also proves that only by persisting in reform and innovation and anchoring coordinated development can we continuously improve the level of openness and inject lasting momentum into high-quality development in a complex and ever-changing international situation.