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The World's Largest Intelligent Multi-story Car Park Begins Operation at Lianyungang Port, Exploring a Benchmark for Digital and Intelligent Intensification in Ro-Ro Operations

From: Lianyungang Daily Updated: 2025-01-21 02:55

At the International Automotive Green and Intelligent Logistics Center of Lianyungang Port, a towering AGV robot-enabled intelligent parking building, the largest of its kind globally, stands majestically, resembling a giant "motor hotel" quietly awaiting the arrival of every vehicle. Last year, this intelligent multi-story car park officially commenced operation, marking a solid step forward in the construction of a smart port at Lianyungang Port and providing robust technological support for the port's finished vehicle export business. According to statistics, the export volume of finished vehicles at Lianyungang Port exceeded 350,000 units in 2024, ranking third in China and once again setting a new annual record for vehicle exports.

On December 27, 2024, with a command, 68 export vehicles adorned with red ribbons were automatically driven out of the multi-story parking spaces at the International Automotive Green and Intelligent Logistics Center of Lianyungang by AGV robots. They smoothly and orderly boarded the ro-ro vessel "Anji Weixin" and set sail with a horn blast. This was the first batch of export vehicles to enjoy the privileges of "taking elevators, residing in buildings, and autonomous driving" since Lianyungang Port's continuous seven-year growth in vehicle exports.

The International Automotive Green and Intelligent Logistics Center of Lianyungang is located next to the port's automotive terminal, covering an area of 24,000 square meters with a total investment of 336 million yuan. The parking building within the center comprises four floors of AGV garages and one floor of self-driving parking lots, equipped with 16 car halls, 16 lifts, and 48 AGV robots. It can accommodate the storage needs of 5,200 imported and exported vehicles at once, with an annual turnover capacity of 180,000 vehicles. Its scale and advanced technology are among the world's leading.

According to Liu, the head of the Investment Department at Jiangsu Lianyungang Port Co., Ltd., the total number of parking spaces in this garage is 2.5 times that of traditional multi-story car parks and 9 times that of the port's traditional ground yards, significantly improving the utilization rate of the port's land resources. At the same time, the logistics center has integrated emerging technologies such as digital twins and cluster scheduling to create a "digital and intelligent brain" for the port's ro-ro operations. As special workers, robots can not only operate 24/7, 365 days a year, but also perform AI calculations based on information such as the destination of vehicle exports, loading times, and car brands, automatically sorting, tallying, and preparing vehicles, greatly improving operational efficiency and saving 2 days compared to the traditional manual vehicle preparation process.

Lianyungang Port is an important node on the New Eurasian Land-Sea Transport Corridor. In recent years, China's automobile export market has flourished, and Lianyungang Port mainly serves central and western provinces along the Longhai-Lanxin Railway as well as transit vehicles from Japan and South Korea. To further enhance its east-west bidirectional openness and improve the capacity of the international hub seaport, the Lianyungang International Automotive Green and Intelligent Logistics Center project was born. Driven by this project, Lianyungang Port's finished vehicle export volume has continued to grow from over 10,000 units in 2017 to 350,000 units in 2024, injecting strong momentum into the city's economic and social development.

Today, this AGV zero-carbon automotive logistics center, which is the largest in scale and the highest in intelligence and intensification globally, is leading a transformation in the port's traditional operating model and steadily advancing towards becoming a demonstration and benchmark for the port's ro-ro automotive business.