Kaizhou Port, located in Baijiaxi, Qukou Town, Kaizhou District, Chongqing, is an inland river port hidden in the mountains in the northeast of Chongqing. Lithium ore imported from Africa enters the port via the Yangtze River and is transported by land to Xuanhan, Sichuan for refining and turned into raw materials for lithium batteries; iron ore from Australia enters the port and is sent to Dazhou, Sichuan to be refined into special steel; coal from Ankang, Shaanxi and cement, sand and gravel from surrounding districts and counties are transferred here.
How can an inland river port that is not close to the sea become the "outlet" for bulk cargo at the junction of Sichuan, Chongqing and Shaanxi? Recently, China News Network visited Kaizhou Port and saw that the operation area was very busy. Shoreline cranes were rising and falling, freighters loaded with cargo were berthing in an orderly manner, and new energy transfer vehicles were shuttled between the port area and the yard. Not far away, at the construction site of the second phase of Kaizhou Port, various engineering vehicles are operating in an orderly manner, and project construction is progressing in full swing.
"From the beginning, we have not regarded it simply as a 'port in Kaizhou', but as an 'outlet' serving the junction of Sichuan, Chongqing and Shaanxi." The relevant person in charge of the Kaizhou District Development and Reform Commission said, "This is the northernmost deep-water port on the tributary of the Yangtze River in northeastern Chongqing. The land distance to Dazhou in Sichuan is the shortest and the comprehensive logistics cost is the lowest."
When the Baijiaxi operating area of Kaizhou Port Area was completed and put into operation in 2017, it had a designed annual throughput capacity of 1.42 million tons, and was equipped with one general-purpose berth and one bulk cargo export berth, which can accommodate 1,000-ton ships. In 2025, the annual throughput of Kaizhou Port will reach 2.74 million tons, nearly twice the design capacity. The original port facilities can no longer match the rapidly growing cross-regional logistics demand.
The relevant person in charge of the Kaizhou District Transportation Commission revealed that the Kaizhou Port Collection and Distribution Operation Center will soon be put into use. Based on Kaizhou Port, serving Kaizhou District, and radiating to northeastern Chongqing, northeastern Sichuan, and southern Shaanxi, the operation center coordinates resources such as ports, logistics, cargo sources, warehousing, and supply chains, strengthens logistics resource integration, enterprise agglomeration, cargo source organization, and comprehensive services, and promotes the accelerated transformation of the port from a traditional loading and unloading node to a comprehensive logistics organization and service platform.
At a previous press conference held by the Chongqing Municipal Government Information Office, Ling Jian, deputy secretary of the Kaizhou District Party Committee and head of the district government, said that facing the "15th Five-Year Plan", Kaizhou will make every effort to build a modern collection and distribution system led by Kaizhou Port and accelerate the construction of a "hub new city" with rivers and seas.
Focusing on this goal, Kaizhou will systematically open up the three-dimensional "rail, highway, water and air" channels and build a core transportation support network. In terms of railways, Kaizhou will strive to reach Kaizhou-Wanzhou freight railway to pass through Kaizhou, making bulk cargo transportation more secure; in terms of roads, Kaizhou will build Wankaida Expressway and Kaiwanliang Expressway, start construction of Kaixuan and Kaizhou Ring Expressways, and build Jiangpu Tunnel to make internal and external traffic smoother and more efficient; water transportation On the one hand, Kaizhou will improve the supporting facilities of the "Thousand-mile Light Boat", upgrade Xiaojiang waterways, increase the throughput capacity of the Baijiaxi operating area, ensure year-round navigation of 3,000-ton ships, and build a 10-million-ton modern port in the Three Gorges Reservoir area; in terms of airspace, Kaizhou will lay out and build low-altitude flight bases.
At the same time, Kaizhou will build a strong multimodal transport hub near the port. According to the "front port-middle warehouse-back garden" model, it will promote the construction of the second phase of Kaizhou Port and the bulk material transfer center, complete supporting functions such as warehousing, processing, charging and swapping, and build a bulk material distribution base serving northeast Sichuan, Chongqing and southern Shaanxi. It will support Kaizhou Port Company's transformation into a multimodal transport operator and add three A-level or above logistics companies to form an industrial structure with leading leadership and echelon coordination.
Currently, Kaizhou is advancing the capacity improvement project of the Baijiaxi operating area in Kaizhou Port Area. Four new 3,000-ton berths will be built with a designed annual throughput capacity of 5.4 million tons. After the completion of the project, the annual cargo throughput of Kaizhou Port will reach 10 million tons.
By 2030, the modern collection and distribution system of Kaizhou Port will be basically mature. The Kaizhou Port collection and distribution operation center will have market-oriented, physical and professional operation capabilities. The number of port customers will reach more than 100, the port cargo throughput will reach more than 7 million tons, and the port's comprehensive revenue will exceed 100 million yuan.
