Northern China's Caofeidian port is advancing smart and green port construction, leveraging its deep-water harbor advantages to integrate 5G networks, artificial intelligence, Beidou positioning, big data and cloud computing across its full operational chain, from vessel berthing to cargo handling, yard storage and dispatch.

Throughput has climbed steadily from 56 million tonnes in 2010, surpassing 95 million tonnes in both 2024 and 2025.

In May, the port area achieved a milestone when the 400,000-tonne vessel "Yuanjianhai" berthed fully loaded, opening a direct maritime corridor for overseas iron ore to reach the Bohai Rim region.

To ensure large vessels can enter, unload and store efficiently, the third-phase expansion of the ore terminal and an ore storage and logistics project are under way. The expansion will extend the main structure eastward by approximately 107 meters, bringing total berth length to 910 meters and raising annual handling capacity from 35 million tonnes to 37 million tonnes.

Once both projects are operational, Caofeidian's annual iron ore unloading capacity will exceed 100 million tonnes, securing raw material supply for steel mills across the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region and the North China hinterland. The port area will also upgrade its storage, transshipment and intelligent dispatch functions.

The port has built 105 production berths, including 51 open to foreign vessels, with designed capacity of 493 million tonnes, making it China's largest import iron ore discharge port, largest steel export port and largest coal energy export port, according to Li Yang, deputy director of the Caofeidian Port Business and Economic Zone Management Office.

From January to June, the port area handled 282.04 million tonnes of cargo, setting a new record year on year.