General Secretary Xi Jinping emphasized that we must firmly grasp the primary task of high-quality development and develop new quality productive forces in accordance with local conditions. 

　　Facing a new round of scientific and technological revolution and industrial transformation, China Railway 14th Bureau Group seizes opportunities, intensifies innovation, uses new technologies to transform and upgrade traditional industries, and cultivates and strengthens strategic emerging industries and future industries. 

　　The Group's integrated media platform has opened a "Marching Toward the New" column to comprehensively record and narrate China Railway 14th Bureau Group's vivid practices in developing new quality productive forces.

In May this year, General Secretary Xi Jinping visited Shandong. At Rizhao Port, he said that Rizhao Port is a port newly built after reform and opening up. In recent years, it has advanced scientific and technological innovation, transformed and upgraded a traditional port into a modern port, and accumulated experience in developing new quality productive forces through the transformation and upgrading of traditional industries, which is worthy of recognition.

On China Railway 14th Bureau Group's business map, from Rizhao Port to the No. 1 Jetty Container Terminal of Dongying Port, through the thousand-year-old ancient waterway of the Xiaoqing River to the northernmost navigable port of the Beijing-Hangzhou Grand Canal—Tai'an Port Road-Rail-Water Intermodal Logistics Park—and from the logistics park southward along the Beijing-Hangzhou Grand Canal, then along the Yangtze River to Zhenjiang Port in Jiangsu and China Railway 14th Bureau Group's Wuhu Large Shield Wharf. From north to south, from rivers to seas, this route shines everywhere with the glorious footprints of China Railway 14th Bureau Group in building ports, operating ports, and extending ports, comprehensively promoting the iterative upgrading of traditional ports toward smart and green ports, and leading the high-quality development of water transport.

01. Building Ports

Marching Toward the New

Rizhao Port

Turning the pages of Rizhao Port's development history, the Yanzhou-Shijiusuo Railway built by the railway corps is the most milestone-significant. It was precisely the opening of the Yanzhou-Shijiusuo Railway that enabled Rizhao Port to be born and grow amid the spring breeze of reform and opening up, and a modern 100-million-ton major port to rise on the "saline-alkali wasteland."

In recent years, projects in which China Railway 14th Bureau Group participated, such as the port-access railway, Pinglan Railway, and Gangnan Railway, have opened up the "last kilometer" of railway access to the port, further giving play to Rizhao Port's role as the country's ** external transport "main artery" with two trunk railways of more than 1,000 kilometers directly connecting to the port, helping Rizhao Port develop from a single coal-export terminal into a comprehensive, multifunctional modern 100-million-ton major port, and powerfully advancing Rizhao Port's new journey of developing new quality productive forces through the transformation and upgrading of traditional industries.

Rizhao Port's hinterland radiates to 16 provinces and municipalities across the country, and its shipping routes cover major countries and regions of the world, reaching more than 500 ports in over 100 countries and regions, making it an important window for China's opening up. Train after train departs from here, from the western shore of the Pacific all the way to the eastern shore of the Atlantic, crossing the Eurasian continent.

Dongying Port Jetty Terminal 

In March 2024, the No. 1 Jetty Container Terminal Project in the Dongying Port Area, built by China Railway 14th Bureau Group, successfully completed the main structure of the terminal, laying a solid foundation for the overall project construction. The terminal is invested in, built, and operated by China Railway 14th Bureau Group together with the local government.

Tai'an Port Logistics Park

Not far from Dongying Port is the estuary of the Xiaoqing River. According to the Outline of the Shandong Provincial Comprehensive Multidimensional Transport Network Plan, the Xiaoqing River, built by China Railway 14th Bureau Group, will connect with the Beijing-Hangzhou Grand Canal. That is to say, in the future in Jinan, one can take a boat from Daming Lake out to sea, and also travel south to Hangzhou's West Lake. At the northernmost navigable port of the Beijing-Hangzhou Grand Canal—Tai'an Port Road-Rail-Water Intermodal Logistics Park—on December 5, 2023, a coal train from Shanxi, after a journey of a thousand miles, slowly pulled into the Dongping Land Port Station of the logistics park. From then on, the logistics park gained the capacity to receive and unload 10,000-ton trains.

The logistics park is a key project in Shandong Province. East-west it relies on the Wari Railway, a major coal transport corridor, and north-south it connects with the Beijing-Hangzhou Canal. It is a golden hub for "west coal to east, north coal to south" transport. Among its components, the dedicated railway line in the park undertaken by China Railway 14th Bureau Group has a total length of 23.4 kilometers and covers 55 hectares, encompassing almost all professional construction before and after the railway station, and is built to the strict construction standards of the national railway to create a century-lasting project.

Rizhao Port, Dongying Port, Tai'an Port, Wuhu Large Shield Wharf... one port and wharf construction project after another has risen in the hands of China Railway 14th Bureau Group's builders.

02  Operating Ports

Marching Toward the New

From engineering construction to investment, operation, and management, from hardware to software, from port construction to smart logistics, China Railway 14th Bureau Group has never stopped its pace of development.

Wuhu Large Shield Wharf

In June 2024, at China Railway 14th Bureau Group's Wuhu Large Shield Wharf, as a cargo ship loaded with 5,400 tons of rice slowly left the wharf, over the next three days this giant vessel will travel east along the Yangtze River to the sea and sail to Guangdong, playing an important role in ensuring grain supply.

The Large Shield Wharf, invested in, built, and operated by China Railway 14th Bureau Group, covers more than 500 mu of land and occupies 360 meters of Yangtze River shoreline in water area. It has two 10,000-ton-class berths (also accommodating three 5,000-ton-class berths) and is independently invested in, built, and operated by China Railway 14th Bureau Group. Since the "14th Five-Year Plan," the wharf's operating strategy has shifted from "a port-industry integration strategy centered on the internal prefabrication industry, with the port and wharf as the link and China Railway 14th Bureau Group's internal projects as the driver" to "a port-city integration strategy centered on port logistics and oriented toward the needs of urban development and livelihood security." It has handled a total of 5.7 million tons of construction materials such as sand, gravel, and pipe piles, and grain crops such as soybeans and wheat, for Wuhu and surrounding cities; carried out green upgrading of the port, providing 19,000 kWh of shore power to more than 1,000 operating vessels and free reception of 407 tons of oily water, garbage, and other waste from vessels, achieving rapid green development of the port and generating overall revenue of more than 1.9 billion yuan.

Yanzhou International Land Port Logistics Park

In November 2020, the "Qilu" Eurasia freight train carrying 41 full containers, after an 18-day long journey, successfully returned from Kouvola, Finland, and arrived at China Railway 14th Bureau Group's Yanzhou International Land Port Logistics Park. This was the first time since the launch of the "Qilu" Eurasia freight train service that a full train of imported goods returned from Finland, and it was also the first Eurasia freight train received by the logistics park.

With the launch of the Yanzhou International Land Port Multimodal Transport Customs Supervision Center, it has become an important measure for China Railway 14th Bureau Group to work with customs, railways, ports, shipping companies, and local enterprises to smooth the logistics "major corridor."

Smart Logistics Digital Supply Chain Platform

In May 2024, in Dongying Optics Valley Future City, the unveiling of Dongying Jiaofa Smart Logistics Information Service Co., Ltd. and the launch ceremony of its system were held.

The platform-plus-base digital supply chain model created by China Railway 14th Bureau Group is an innovative "platform + base" digital supply chain public service system solution targeting key problems in the circulation of bulk materials, such as delivery security issues, financing difficulties for enterprises, high social logistics costs, and poor financing that hinders the growth and expansion of logistics enterprises. Through the creation of seven digital platforms—the commodity trading platform, pledge supervision platform, digital freight platform, intelligent risk control platform, logistics finance platform, blockchain evidence preservation platform, and industry monitoring platform—the entire commodity circulation process is made online and electronic. With government leadership and joint efforts of central and state-owned enterprises, and relying on Dongying City's logistics park resources and the nationwide park layout of China Railway 14th Bureau Group's logistics company, it builds a trustworthy base for cargo rights pledge and goods delivery.

With a broad vision, one should look far ahead. With the continuous development of smart logistics parks, on January 18, 2023, China Railway Construction's ** road-rail-water multimodal transport smart logistics company—China Railway 14th Bureau Group Logistics Co., Ltd.—came into being. Through integrated investment, construction, and operation or asset-light operation of land ports, wharves, and ports of entry, the company gathers and integrates logistics resources, builds a modern logistics platform, promotes industrial upgrading, and injects strong momentum into the high-quality development of enterprises.

03. Extending Ports

Marching Toward the New

Green Port Construction

Continuing south along the Grand Canal and crossing the Yangtze River, one enters the Jiangnan Canal section of the Grand Canal, and the ** ancient canal capital reached is Zhenjiang.

At Zhenjiang Dagang Port, in November 2023, more than 20,000 square meters of photovoltaics at the port began generating electricity. The trickling current, along with the ceaseless rolling Yangtze River water, flows into the busy port and lights up the thousands of homes on both banks of the Yangtze.

In addition to Zhenjiang Port, three photovoltaic power generation projects—the Xinshengwei Project and Tianyu Project built by China Railway 14th Bureau Group—have successively completed grid-connected power generation, with a total installed capacity of 8.9 megawatts. They can provide about 8.7 million kWh of green electricity each year, save about 2,600 tons of standard coal, and reduce carbon dioxide emissions by about 7,200 tons, with obvious emission reduction effects and significant ecological benefits.

During construction, the construction team used China's advanced intelligent centralized control system for distributed photovoltaic power stations. This system can not only analyze key operating indicators such as power generation efficiency and photovoltaic array current at any time through big data and dynamically monitor performance changes of key equipment, but also, through remote operation and maintenance technology, precisely locate faulty equipment and abnormal photovoltaic arrays, and provide automatic analysis and repair adjustment suggestions for station faults and power generation output, reducing later operation and management costs by 20%.

In addition to the photovoltaic power generation at these three ports, China Railway 14th Bureau Group also won the bid for later photovoltaic operation and maintenance services, responsible for the production operation and maintenance management (integrated operation and maintenance management), equipment management, safety management, and comprehensive affairs management of the three distributed photovoltaic power stations. This achieves a breakthrough in cross-disciplinary operation and maintenance management beyond highway tunnels and bridges, rail transit, and utility tunnels, opening a new section in the operation and maintenance blueprint.

Smart Waterway Construction

In March 2024, at Zhangqiu Port in Jinan, accompanied by a loud whistle, a cargo ship carrying large components of a 1,200-ton mast crane slowly sailed out from the Xiaoqing River waterway in which China Railway 14th Bureau Group participated in construction, heading toward the vast sea area. This was the first "river-sea direct" transport business since the Xiaoqing River began operation.

After departing from Zhangqiu Port in Jinan, the cargo ship will travel via the Xiaoqing River directly to Wenzhou City, a total journey of 1,766 kilometers, covering 165 kilometers of the Xiaoqing River section and 1,601 kilometers of sea route. Compared with the traditional "land transport + sea transport" model for oversized cargo, the "river-sea direct" transport model not only greatly reduces transport costs and improves efficiency, but also relieves pressure on land transport.

When the cargo ship sails in the Xiaoqing River section, the crew can pre-declare at the first lock through the "Palm Xiaoqing River" APP, achieving one port declaration and multiple lock passages. Payment methods support WeChat, Alipay, and others, greatly facilitating payment for boat owners and simplifying the port declaration registration process. This benefits from the digital (smart) waterway engineering construction of the entire Xiaoqing River line built by China Railway 14th Bureau Group, which has advanced the automation, digitalization, and intelligence level of Xiaoqing River waterway management. The project was also selected as a typical case at the UNECE PPP International Forum and has gained broad recognition from the international community.

From awakening the century-dormant Xiaoqing River to building ports on the Beijing-Hangzhou Grand Canal, from the construction and operation and maintenance of photovoltaic projects at Yangtze River ports to a logistics system covering the whole country, from traditional mountain tunnels to marine port construction, in the face of changes of the times, China Railway 14th Bureau Group has always been continuously transforming and developing, marching toward the new.