In the fourth phase of Shanghai Yangshan Deepwater Port, the crane operator on the 15th floor of the tower faced the screen and gently moved the rocker to accurately lift and steadily lower the container on the yard a few hundred meters away. Affected by the new crown pneumonia epidemic, from January to April 2020, the container throughput of Shanghai Port dropped by 8.4% year-on-year, which was worrying at one time. Today, in the world's largest unmanned automated terminal, busyness has once again become the norm. In 2020, the container throughput of Shanghai Port rushed to a new peak of 43.5 million TEUs, drawing a beautiful "V" shape.
Not only in Shanghai, from Ningbo to Tianjin, from Qingdao to Dalian, container terminals in full swing are present at the same time in many major ports in China. Not only on the sea, but also on the land, the container has also ushered in the peak of foreign trade. In 2020, the China-Europe Express Train will break through the “ten thousand trains” mark, and will continue to ship anti-epidemic materials, auto parts, and electronic products produced in China to foreign countries. The freight rates in the ocean shipping market continued to rise, which led to an increase in the composite index of the export container shipping market. In mid-January this year, after maintaining a continuous upward trend, China's export container freight index has reached 1,863.84 points, which is more than a thousand points higher than the May 2020 average. "I was still worried about the accumulation of boxes in the first half of last year, and now there are not enough trucks to pull containers." This has become a portrayal of the work of container manufacturers everywhere.
On the large sea and land transportation corridors, each container reflects the warmth of foreign trade and releases a positive signal of the rapid recovery of China's economy. In 2020, as the world economy has fallen into a severe recession, the global trade in goods has fallen by 5.6% year-on-year, while the total value of China's trade in goods has hit a record high of 32.16 trillion yuan, highlighting the resilience and vitality of China's economy. After going through the winds and frosts without being discouraged, and becoming stronger through the ice and snow, the Chinese economy has withstood the stress test and injected confidence in the recovery of the global market.