At the No 2 berth of the third phase wharf in the Laotangshan operation area of Ningbo Zhoushan Port, the Liberian bulk carrier Captain George unloaded over 70,000 metric tons of soybeans from Brazil on Dec 4.

"A ship typically unloads between 10,000 to 16,000 tons of grain. We can now complete the process in 12 to 15 hours. Additionally, using specialized grain grabs significantly reduces spillage during unloading," said Ji Yuheng, deputy general manager of Zhoushan Port Laotangshan Zhongzhuan Storage and Transportation Co.

In 2023, the volume of unloaded grain at Laotangshan operation area exceeded 10 million tons. As the largest designated grain import port in the Yangtze River Delta region, nearly 20 percent of the nation's imported grain is unloaded here. The grain is then transported to the Yangtze River Delta region or to the Zhoushan International Grain and Oil Industrial Park for storage, trading, and processing.

The Zhejiang Zhoushan Reserve and Transshipment Grain Depot is the largest operational grain storage facility in Zhejiang province and a key storage site within the industrial park.

The depot currently stores 334,500 tons of grain, with an average annual throughput of 1 million tons, according to Shen Bo, general manager of Zhejiang Grain Reserve Management Group Zhoushan Grain Depot Co.

"By storing grain in a high-tech environment, we can monitor and adjust the temperature and humidity of the depot in real time, maintaining a consistent storage temperature of 16 to 18 degrees Celsius year-round," said Shen.

Editor: Cheng Dengyu