On March 29, 2021, Qingdao Port (601298.SH, 06198.HK) released its 2020 annual performance report. Its business volume and operating performance have both achieved double growth. According to relevant data, Qingdao Port's return on net assets is among the highest in China Ranked first among coastal listed ports. According to publicly disclosed information, in 2015, 2016, 2018, 2019, and 2020, Qingdao Port's return on net assets ranked first among China's coastal listed ports, winning recognition from the capital market and fully demonstrating Qingdao Port's operating strength.

Magnify advantage

Qingdao Port has an advantageous geographical location and a developed economic hinterland. It is adjacent to the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei Integrated Development Zone in the north, the Yangtze River Delta Integrated Development Zone in the south, the Yellow River Basin ecological protection and high-quality development economic belt in the west, and Japan, South Korea, and Southeast Asia to the east. Possessing a unique location advantage, this is an indispensable factor for Qingdao Port to strengthen its main business and stabilize its position in the industry.

As the country’s “One Belt, One Road” initiative puts forward the accelerated construction of a new development pattern of “domestic cycle as the main body and mutual promotion of international and domestic double cycles”, the strategic position of Qingdao Port has become particularly prominent. Qingdao Port has accurately positioned itself, actively integrated into the national, provincial and municipal development strategies, actively "going out to sea" for management output and capital output, and cooperates with world-class companies such as Maersk, PetroChina, COSCO Shipping and other world-class companies to go to sea for win-win cooperation, and cooperate with more than 180 world-class companies. These countries and regions have general navigation and trade, building convenient and efficient inland and international logistics channels.

In particular, the integrated reform and development of Shandong Port will help Qingdao Port consolidate its position as a hub. In 2019, in order to implement the important instructions of General Secretary Jinping "Accelerate the construction of a world-class marine port", Shandong Port Group was formally established in Qingdao City, realizing the "one game of chess" in the province's coastal port planning, the "one network" of management services, Resource development is "a picture". Facing new development opportunities, Qingdao Port will continue to deepen the strategy of shipping company headquarters by leveraging its advantages in resource integration, and accelerate the construction of a shipping hub in Northeast Asia.

Sea direction, increase routes, expand cabin capacity, expand transit, open trains on land, build land ports, and expand cargo sources. In 2020 alone, with the advantages of resource integration and platform advantages of all ports since the integration, Qingdao Port has added 14 foreign trade routes, including 7 "Belt and Road" sea routes to Southeast Asia, the Middle East, and Europe, which will be fully expanded. The “Belt and Road” market layout has been established. At the same time, a sea-rail combined transport network with Qingdao Port as the axis and radiating across the country has been created. The number of cities with sea-rail combined transport trains has exceeded 30, and the volume of sea-rail combined transport has reached 1.65 million TEUs. The first coastal port.

Diversified business

With the transformation and upgrading of economic development, the port's development model of "throughput is king" has quietly changed, and it has been difficult to meet the needs of high-quality development by relying on the growth of the traditional main business of loading and unloading. Qingdao Port actively responds to changes in different international and domestic economic fields, actively follows the path of diversified development, continues to expand profitability, and achieves high-quality development.

Continuously increase innovation, conform to the development direction of the port and shipping industry, focus on the new needs of customers, continue to open up the vertical integrated industrial chain of full logistics services, gather various industrial resources such as shipping, trade, and finance, and build more profitable "profits" combination". In the dry bulk segment, we are actively building ore supermarkets, expanding value-added services such as bonded, futures delivery, ore blending, shipping forwarding and other value-added services. Among them, the successfully launched blending business provides customers with high value-added services. Jiakou Standard Mine" has become a representative of Qingdao Port’s innovative services and extended service chain.

Always maintain market acumen, seize relevant policy opportunities, and promote the implementation of new businesses and new formats. Take the opportunity of Shandong local refinery import crude oil qualification license to consolidate the market share of Shandong port local refinery import oil; use the export-related policies of second-hand vehicles as an opportunity to promote the roll-on and roll-off business of second-hand vehicles in Qingdao Port; aim at the consumption upgrade brought by the epidemic situation With a new opportunity, we will make every effort to build a consumer goods distribution center in northern China, and accelerate the transformation to a comprehensive transportation port for means of production and living...

The emergence of emerging business formats has promoted the continuous increase in the “gold content” of the port. In particular, the Qingdao area of the Shandong Pilot Free Trade Zone, the Shanghai Cooperation Demonstration Zone, RCEP and other policies have continued to empower in the past two years. Shandong Port has adopted a series of measures to support the emerging main business. It has provided great assistance for the transformation and upgrading of Qingdao Port of Shandong Port. With the support of customs and other departments, the business of bonded crude oil blending and reconciliation, futures crude oil delivery warehouse business, foreign anchorage ship oil supply, domestic low-sulfur oil vessel oil supply and other businesses With steady development, the port industries such as the Dongjiakou Port Area Grain and Oil Base Project and the Grinding Project have accelerated the implementation of the port industry, which has effectively contributed to the high-quality development of Qingdao Port.

Long-term vision

Whether in a favorable economic environment or under the adverse effects of the impact of the new crown epidemic, Qingdao Port has been ranked first in China's coastal listed ports in its return on net assets for many years, showing the resilience of Qingdao Port's development.

Qingdao Port insists on taking a long-term view, paying attention to work forward-looking, based on reality, investing in key projects, continuously enhancing hardware service capabilities, laying a solid foundation for development, and continuously enhancing the port’s competitiveness and ability to withstand risks. The Dongjiakou Port-Weifang-Luzhong and Lubei oil pipelines and supporting storage tanks invested and constructed have been put into operation one after another. The pipeline network covers refineries in Dongying, Binzhou, Weifang and other regions. When the national traffic was blocked at the beginning of the epidemic, Qingdao Port passed through Leveraging on the advantages of pipeline transportation has effectively helped companies resume work and production.

What’s more worth mentioning is that, riding on the east wind of accelerating the construction of smart ports, on May 11, 2017, Qingdao Port not only completed and put into production the world’s leading, Asia’s first fully automated container terminal, but also successfully created a low The "Qingdao Model" of cost, short cycle and high starting point has refreshed the world record of automated terminal loading and unloading efficiency created by itself six times since its operation, which has further polished the service brand and has the advantage of "no face-to-face, zero contact". In the context of the new crown epidemic, it has played an active role in ensuring logistics and transportation.

In 2020, the Ministry of Transport issued the “Opinions of the Ministry of Transport on Shandong Province’s Pilot Work for the Development of High-speed Railway Construction Management Mode and Other Transport Powerful Country Construction”, which clarified that Shandong Port is a pilot unit for “smart port construction” and provides for the construction of smart and green ports. Bigger platform, more resources, stronger motivation. Relying on the first-mover advantage of fully automated container terminals and the advantages of Shandong port platform, Qingdao Port continues to increase the construction of smart and green ports, promotes the upgrading and transformation of traditional terminals to automation and intelligence, accelerates the promotion of online business, and makes the port's operating mode more adaptable New trend.

At present, Qingdao Port is based on a new stage of development, is implementing the new development concept with a more active attitude, integrating into the new development pattern, and accelerating its progress toward the goal of an international shipping hub in Northeast Asia. A Qingdao Port with more development potential is expected . Editor/XuNing