The new 400,000-ton ore terminal at Qingdao Port's Dongjiakou area begins operation, strengthening China's bulk cargo handling capacity and global shipping network. [Photo/Guanhai News]

Qingdao Port hit a big milestone when the SM KOREA LINE, a 300,000-metric-ton ship with iron ore from the Brazilian company Vale, started at the new berth in the Dongjiakou port area.

This starts the use of Qingdao Port's second 400,000-ton ore terminal, making it the first in China with smart big dry bulk terminals of this size, and the first in northern China with two 400,000-ton terminals.

As a major water transport project, this terminal elevates Qingdao's role as a global shipping hub and shows big progress in building and running huge dry bulk terminals in China. With bigger ships being the global trend, Dongjiakou's first 400,000-ton terminal is almost full, handling over 40 million tons this year with 90 percent use.

The new terminal, built with a 30,000-ton berth for 400,000-ton ships, started in Dec 2022. It has two 3,500-ton/hour unloaders and a 10,500-ton/hour conveyor. With storage yards of 1.31 million square meters, it adds 16 million tons of yearly throughput and 10 million tons of storage. 

Together, the two terminals will have over 56 million tons in yearly throughput, making an efficient, all-weather iron ore transport corridor and strengthening China's energy and resource supply chain.