According to the Ocean Port and Port and Navigation Administration of Tangshan City, as of now, the throughput of Tangshan Port has reached 80.07 million tons, a year-on-year increase of 10.65%. Tangshan Port has officially entered the ranks of 800 million ton major ports and is also the second port in the world with an annual throughput exceeding 800 million tons.According to data from the Ministry of Transport, from 2020 to 2022, Tangshan Port completed cargo throughput of 703 million tons, 722 million tons, and 769 million tons respectively, showing a steady upward trend. In May 2022, it surpassed Shanghai Port (the throughput data of Shanghai Port is “sea port+inland river” data), becoming the world’s second largest port in terms of cargo throughput. This time, the cargo throughput exceeded 800 million tons, marking another level of Tangshan Port’s comprehensive competitiveness.sea freightObserving the development of Tangshan Port in recent years, the throughput of 800 million tons is not achieved overnight.From the perspective of hard power, Tangshan Port mainly has two major port areas: Caofeidian Port Area and Jingtang Port Area. Among them, Caofeidian Port Area is a deep-water good port that can unload 400000 ton ships. At present, Tangshan Port has built 144 berths, of which 80 are open to the public; 55 inland ports have been built, covering over 3 million square kilometers of 11 provinces and cities in the hinterland; There are 47 domestic and foreign container shipping routes, achieving high-density full coverage of major coastal ports in China, 10 basic ports in Japan and South Korea, and 26 partial ports in Japan; We have 235 ocean routes, connecting over 200 ports in nearly 80 countries and regions such as Europe, America, Japan, South Korea, Australia, and Africa.From the perspective of soft power, on the one hand, Tangshan Port is accelerating the construction of a smart, safe, and green port. A number of projects, such as innovative application projects for container smart terminals and information security perception management platforms, have been completed and put into use one after another; On the other hand, Tangshan Port has improved its port service level through measures such as optimizing the port and railway transportation system, promoting port infrastructure construction, promoting the construction of pilot cities for cross-border trade facilitation, accelerating the development of inland ports and cross-border freight trains, and achieving comprehensive discounts on the use fees, storage fees, pilotage fees, and non basic port surcharges of bulk cargo yards throughout the port, bringing visible and tangible benefits and convenience to enterprises.The combination of soft and hard strength has led to a continuous increase in the cargo throughput of Tangshan Port in recent years. However, compared with world-class ports such as Shanghai Port and Ningbo Zhoushan Port, the characteristics and difficulties that Tangshan Port has presented in its development process are still worth discussing.One is that Tangshan Port mainly handles coal and iron ore for unloading, with a relatively single source structure and more susceptible to fluctuations in economic cycles. On the other hand, Ningbo Zhoushan Port, the world’s largest port in terms of throughput, has a balanced development of various cargo categories such as containers, iron ore, crude oil, coal, liquefied goods, general cargo, and roll on/roll off. In the face of economic fluctuations, the performance of a comprehensive large port will be more resilient.Secondly, the overall container strength of Tangshan Port is relatively weak. As the saying goes, the size of a port depends on its throughput; Whether the port is strong or not depends on the containers. In 2022, Tangshan Port completed a container throughput of 3.34 million TEUs, while Ningbo Zhoushan Port and Shanghai Port, which ranked similarly in throughput, had container throughput of 33.35 million TEUs and 47.3 million TEUs respectively in 2022, indicating a significant gap. Tangshan Port has integrated container resources since 2021 and still has significant room for improvement.Thirdly, the competition in the Bohai Rim port group is fierce, and Tangshan Port faces numerous competitors, including neighboring Tianjin Port, as well as Guotou Jingtang Port and Guoneng Huanghua Port that have not been integrated into Hebei Port Group, as well as a group of cargo terminals. Although the plate is large, there are many competitors, which also pose challenges to the development of Tangshan Port.However, in the face of these challenges, Tangshan Port is also actively seeking solutions. In terms of top-level design, Hebei Province has successively formulated policy documents such as “Several Measures to Further Promote and Support the High Quality Development of Coastal Ports” and “Implementation Opinions on Accelerating the Construction of a Multi functional and Comprehensive Modern Port”, clarifying that Tangshan Port will be developed into a major energy and raw material hub port, a comprehensive trade port, and a regional container shipping center serving the national major strategy.In terms of specific practice, Hebei Port Group is also actively promoting the integration and integration of the container sector, and clearly regards Tangshan Port Group as the operating entity that coordinates the development of the container transportation and shipping industry in the whole province. Tangshan Port Industry Group Co., Ltd. is responsible for the unified management and operation of 11 container berths and 62 domestic and foreign trade routes of Hebei Port Group, organizing elite troops to go deep into central and southern Hebei, northwest Shandong Expand the supply market in Pearl River Delta and other regions, expand and strengthen container business, and enrich the port supply structure.Recently, the General Office of the Ministry of Transport announced the first batch of 14 “Port Function Optimization and Enhancement Special Pilot Projects for Strengthening Transportation”. Two projects, namely the Caofeidian Port Area Bulk Cargo Terminal Function Optimization and Enhancement Pilot Project and the Jingtang Port Area Container Terminal Intelligent Renovation Project, were selected. The improvement of port hardware level will undoubtedly enhance the future development of Tangshan Port.In the process of transitioning from a traditional coal port to a comprehensive trade port, how to maintain the existing advantages of coal unloading while creating a space in the container business field is both a challenge and an opportunity for Tangshan Port. In any case, the emergence of the second global port with an annual throughput of over 800 million tons is a good remedy to boost morale.
