On the afternoon of December 3, a sea-rail intermodal train fully loaded with small commodity goods from Yiwu slowly arrived at Beilun Railway Station in Ningbo Zhoushan Port. This milestone marks the station's annual container handling volume officially exceeding 1 million twenty-foot equivalent units (TEUs), making it the first railway port station in China to achieve the "million-TEU" level.
As the largest railway station for container operations in Ningbo Zhoushan Port, Beilun Railway Station is located within the port area of Ningbo Beilun's first container terminal. Its development vividly reflects the growth of Ningbo Zhoushan Port's sea-rail intermodal business—from modest beginnings to excellence. In 2009, the station welcomed its first sea-rail intermodal container train, marking the port's entry into scheduled train operations. By 2014, its annual handling volume surpassed 100,000 TEUs for the first time. In 2017, the addition of six operational tracks significantly boosted its capacity, and by 2019, annual handling volume had surged to 800,000 TEUs.
To date, Beilun Railway Station has maintained an annual handling volume of over 800,000 TEUs for six consecutive years, successfully surpassing the 1 million TEU milestone this year—a new national record for railway port stations. This achievement provides robust support for cargo distribution and supply chain efficiency in the Yangtze River Delta and beyond.
This year, Ningbo Zhoushan Port and Shanghai Railway Group have deepened collaboration with local governments, customs, and China Railway United Containers to strengthen horizontal coordination among "railway, port, and enterprises." Leveraging the core advantage of "direct railway-to-port connectivity," they have tapped into cargo transport potential, attracting more inland shipments to efficiently "go global" via Ningbo Zhoushan Port's sea-rail intermodal channel.
Beilun Railway Station has prioritized integrated operations, optimizing internal efficiency by consolidating key production elements such as operational tracks, intelligent machinery, and modern storage yards. It has established a dynamic, end-to-end management mechanism for loading/unloading plans and progress while pioneering streamlined models like direct sea-rail loading and container retrieval by bill. These innovations have systematically enhanced comprehensive operational capacity and end-to-end service efficiency.
Through process reengineering and resource optimization, Beilun Railway Station now achieves high-efficiency standards, including "90-minute train loading/unloading" and "under 2-minute single-vehicle operations." This has effectively eliminated coordination bottlenecks, building a modern operational system characterized by "efficient collaboration, seamless connectivity, and smart convenience." The station solidifies the foundation for safe and smooth sea-rail intermodal transport, showcasing its leadership as a national railway hub driving high-quality industry development.
Moving forward, Beilun Railway Station will continue refining sea-rail coordination mechanisms, improving container transport services, and further bridging efficient two-way connectivity between inland regions and coastal ports. This effort will contribute significantly to fostering a new development paradigm and facilitating domestic-international dual circulation.
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