Nansha Port Phase IV Automated Container Terminal
Guangzhou Port Group's Nansha Phase IV terminal, opened 28 July 2022, was the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area's first fully automated container terminal: automated quay cranes hand containers to intelligent guided vehicles (IGVs) routed by an AI scheduling system the operator calls the terminal's "Super Brain," with automated yard cranes replacing on-site crews. It is also China's first fully automated terminal built for river-sea-rail multimodal transfer, with four 100,000-tonne berths and 4.9 million TEU/year design capacity. Container throughput through the automated terminal reached 1.81 million TEUs in the first half of 2024, up 102.7% year-on-year, and the operator reports roughly 70% lower manpower needs than a conventional terminal; a Phase V expansion was approved for the same automated model in March 2025.
📊 Impact
1.81 million TEUs handled by the automated terminal in H1 2024, up 102.7% year-on-year; operator-reported ~70% lower manpower requirement than a conventional terminal (Guangzhou Port Group / state media, 2022–2024).
📖 Terms in this entry: Adaptive traffic signals · CBTC (communications-based train control) · Digital twin
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📎 Cite this project
1001 Smart Cities (2026). “Nansha Port Phase IV Automated Container Terminal” — Guangzhou, China. The Smart City Atlas. https://1001smartcities.org/projects/guangzhou-nansha-port-terminal/ (last verified 2026-08-02). Data: CC BY 4.0.
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