The fourth-phase project of the Yangshan Deep Water Port, part of the China (Shanghai) Pilot Free Trade Zone, recently passed the acceptance appraisal conducted by the Shanghai Municipal Commission of Transport.

With official verification, the berthing capacity of the port's fourth phase wharf reaches 150,000 tons.

The fourth phase project began trail operation on Dec 10, 2017 and has handled over 600 main-route vessels and about 3,200 sub-route vessels so far. Its container throughput is expected to exceed 2 million twenty-foot equivalent units (TEUs) in 2018.

During the trial operation period, its 16 travelling cranes, 88 rail-mounted gantry cranes, and 80 automated guided vehicles have been put into use. It has also updated its management system as well as equipment performance so that the wharf's daily throughput has reached 14,451 TEUs.

What's more, the facilities and equipment of the phase-four project have withstood the severe test of a number of typhoons in the summer and autumn of 2018.

Construction of the fourth phase project started in December 2014. Covering an area of 2.23 million square meters, it has seven berths with a 2,350-meter-long coastline for the container terminal, making it the world's largest automated cargo terminal.

The acceptance marks the new beginning of the fourth-phase project, as it plans to expand its equipment to 26 travelling cranes, 120 rail-mounted gantry cranes, and 130 automated guided vehicles. It will capable of handling 6.3 million TEUs annually in 2020.

A truck driver walks in the Yangshan Deep Water Port, part of the China (Shanghai) Pilot Free Trade Zone. [Photo/Agencies]

An aerial view of containers at the fourth phase of the Yangshan Deep Water Port, the world's largest automated cargo terminal, in Shanghai, April 10, 2018. [Photo/IC]

Containers are seen at the Yangshan Deep Water Port in Shanghai, April 24, 2018. [Photo/Agencies]