As the final container was unloaded from the Cap San Lazaro vessel on May 22, the automated terminal at Qingdao Port of Shandong Port Group broke the world record for the 13th time in automated container terminals, with an average single-crane productivity of 62.62 twenty-foot equivalent units (TEUs) per hour.

The Cap San Lazaro vessel docks at the automated terminal of Qingdao Port. [Photo/WeChat account: Shandong-Port]

This achievement can be attributed to the integration of the A-TOS intelligent terminal control system and the A-ECS equipment intelligent control system, both developed in-house by the Qingdao Port automated terminal. Leveraging advanced algorithms and computing power in artificial intelligence (AI), this system can identify optimal stacking positions from a vast pool of over 150,000 locations and reduce the stacking turnover rate by 5.14 percent. Coupled with innovative technologies such as visual perception, the system achieves a 2.6-percent reduction in operating spacing and a 3.6-percent increase in speed.

In April 2025, this automated terminal underwent an upgrade in ship automation. Confronted with ship deviations, the automated shore bridge combined AI and 3D point cloud technologies to navigate a 40-centimeter gap at a speed of 15 kilometers per hour, all without human intervention. This advancement not only reduced the lifting equipment's operating height by 16.6 meters but also shortened the handling time for a single container by nearly 20 seconds.

Moreover, the introduction of cutting-edge technologies such as large-scale model training for truck handling and container delivery resulted in a 9-percent increase in efficiency. The terminal's core components have also shifted from international to domestic production.