Xiamen Port Holdings reports over 25% growth in foreign trade containers, driven by peak operations at Haicang terminal.
Xiamen Port Holdings records over 25% year-on-year growth in foreign trade container volume as the Haicang terminal sustains peak operations.
In August, Xiamen Port Holdings Group completed container throughput exceeding 980,000 TEUs, representing a year-on-year increase of more than 12%. Of this total, terminals within Xiamen handled a cumulative volume surpassing 930,000 TEUs - a year-on-year growth of over 15% - while foreign trade containers reached nearly 680,000 TEUs, surging more than 25% year-on-year, a clear demonstration that export momentum continues to strengthen.
During the second half of August, the Haicang Songyu operational zone repeatedly accommodated three large container vessels berthed simultaneously, with gantry cranes in continuous motion and container trucks traversing the terminal in an unbroken rhythm - a sustained picture of full-capacity operations. During this period, eight Maersk vessel calls were completed with precision, among them the Elly Maersk, which handled a single-vessel load and discharge of 18,800 TEUs. Mediterranean Shipping Company's Europe-service vessels also arrived in concentration, collectively discharging more than 35,000 TEUs. Confronted with two overlapping peak surges, the Haicang Joint Operations Centre consolidated critical information across all terminals - vessel movements, berth occupancy, and yard inventory - and implemented a concurrent load-and-discharge protocol, staggering multi-vessel windows to extract maximum efficiency from a finite number of berths.
In the wake of typhoon passage, vessels converged on the port in rapid succession, driving empty container yards toward saturation and placing pressure beyond the absorption capacity of any single terminal zone. The Group responded by integrating the resources of both the Dongdu and Haicang port areas: supported by maritime, customs, border inspection, and pilotage authorities, all operational zones coordinated closely to unlock latent capacity, advancing cross-zone repositioning of empty containers and the consolidated storage of dangerous goods containers - systematically resolving yard congestion pressure point by point.
On 25 August, the 150,000-tonne vessel MSC Irenia, then awaiting berth, faced a particularly acute situation: three large vessels were simultaneously conducting berthing and departure operations within the same port zone, all available Haicang tugs had been fully deployed, and the operational window was severely constrained by both tidal deadlines and an approaching typhoon. Under the efficient coordination of the Xiamen Seaport Integrated Dispatch and Command Centre, multiple agencies convened for joint consultation and precise scheduling. The vessel ultimately completed its cargo operations that same day and departed successfully on the tidal window in the early hours of the 27th.
Behind this high-efficiency coordination lies a compelling demonstration of port enterprises and port-side authorities advancing in the same direction. Maritime, customs, border inspection, and pilotage departments - operating through the Integrated Dispatch and Command Centre - implemented a 48-hour advance reporting mechanism, positioning information upstream and synchronising operational tempo. These efforts collectively provide the structural foundation upon which Xiamen Port sustains full-load performance - not merely as an operational achievement, but as evidence of a port system built for the demands of accelerating global trade.
