At 11:00 a.m. on December 10, the cargo vessel Anhui Ocean No. 6 carrying imported packaging-material containers slowly entered the Donggang Terminal in Huaiyin District. The successful launch of the first foreign-trade import operation at the Donggang Terminal marks smoother business collaboration and resource allocation among the port areas in Huai'an's main urban zone, signaling that Huai'an Port has entered a new stage of integrated operations.

In the past, state-owned terminals across Huai'an operated independently, making it difficult to generate scale effects. To address this, Huai'an has pursued the goal of "one city, one port, and one operating entity," making every effort to promote integrated port operations citywide, avoid disorderly and homogeneous competition, and achieve high-quality, sustainable development of all ports in the city.

On May 14, 2024, Huai'an Port Logistics Group, Shanggang (Huai'an) International Container Terminal Co., Ltd., and Huaiyin Port Group Co., Ltd. took the lead in achieving integrated container operations, marking the beginning of coordinated development between the northern and southern ports of Huai'an. On March 5 this year, Donggang in Huaiyin had already completed its first foreign-trade export operation. Now, with the successful launch of its first foreign-trade import operation, it has established an efficient logistics model in which foreign-trade cargo can flow both outbound and inbound. This represents new progress in resource integration and coordinated development between the two ports and has produced strong "1+1>2" results.

This year, the container throughput of Huai'an's ports is expected to exceed 600,000 TEUs, with foreign-trade containers surpassing 150,000 TEUs. The efficiency gains brought by integrated port operations are rapidly transforming into new strengths for hub-economy development. Under the new framework of "one city, one port, and one operating entity," fresh momentum is being injected into regional industrial upgrading.