en.Wedoany.com Reported - At around 3:30 p.m. on July 29, a freight train loaded with containers smoothly departed from Xiamen Ocean Gate Terminal, marking the official opening of China's first "vertical shoreline, direct-to-dock" sea-rail intermodal dedicated line—the Xiamen Ocean Gate Terminal Railway Dedicated Line.
This railway dedicated line is one of China's first key projects for integrated transportation and logistics development. It spans 1,586 meters, with a designed annual container throughput of 250,000 TEUs and an annual bulk cargo throughput of 250,000 tons. The railway line is laid at a right angle to the coastline, extending deep into the core operational area of the terminal, just 70 meters from the quayside, allowing cargo to be loaded directly onto trains at the dock.
Traditional railway dedicated lines at ports are mostly built on the periphery of the port area, preventing trains from reaching the quayside directly. As a result, cargo must be transferred between the railway yard and the dock. Xu Chunguang, project manager of the Ocean Gate Terminal Railway Dedicated Line, explained that this vertical shoreline dedicated line upgrades the traditional three-stage "train-yard-ship" transfer to a two-stage "train-ship" direct connection.
"By eliminating the intermediate transfer stage, cargo damage is reduced, the comprehensive logistics cost per container for customers drops by over 15%, and overall logistics time is shortened by 2 to 3 days," Xu said.
The Xiamen Ocean Gate Terminal Railway Dedicated Line is equipped with four automated rail-mounted gantry cranes and three parallel loading/unloading tracks, enabling integrated operation of the automated terminal and automated railway. It establishes a new operational system featuring "minute-level efficient transfer and zero-kilometer seamless connection," achieving "70-meter transshipment and 9-minute transfer" efficiency, bridging the "last mile" of sea-rail intermodal transport. This not only comprehensively improves the port's multimodal transport turnover efficiency but also provides strong support for Xiamen Port to deepen sea-rail intermodal integration, accelerate its expansion into inland hinterlands, and strive to become a world-class port.
To further leverage the efficiency of the railway dedicated line, multiple parties including the port, railway, and customs have collaborated. Port and railway operation plans are shared in advance, scheduling is coordinated, and equipment resources are shared, transforming from the previous "port and railway segmented operations" to integrated and unified management. The dedicated line is located within the Xiamen Haicang Port Comprehensive Bonded Zone, implementing a one-stop customs clearance of "one declaration, one inspection, one release."
"The opening of the railway dedicated line will help further promote the two-way integration of Xiamen Port's maritime network and railway network, building a three-dimensional logistics network that reaches the world by sea and radiates to Asia and Europe by land," said Ren Guoyan, director of Xiamen Port Authority.
