The AGV-guided cross-border transport system at Ganqimaodu port, North China’s Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region on November 12, 2023 Photo: Tao Mingyang/GT

China’s first Auto Guided Vehicle (AGV) cross-border transport system for land port at Ganqimaodu port in North China’s Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region has been in operation for nearly 16 months, driving up transport efficiency for coal, one of the most-traded commodities between China and Mongolia. 

On the weekend, only four AGVs were operating along the 1.86-kilometer-route connecting the Chinese and Mongolian stockyards. Each autopilot AGV carried two standard containers filled with imported coal from Mongolia. 

“The maximum speed of AGV is 25 kilometers per hour, can finish a round trip between two stockyards in 50 minutes,” Gao Mingyue, general manager for AGV central control of E-commodities Holdings Limited (E-comm), told the Global Times on Sunday. 

E-comm, the operator of the AGV transport system, has a total of 30 AGVs at present, and deploys 24 AGVs during the weekdays completing a combined 160 round trips, transporting 10,400 tons of coal each day, said Gao. 

The Mongolian side also has 30 AGVs, and the annual transport capacity of the system is estimated to reach 15 million tons after all 60 AGVs entering operation. 

“From the system entered operation on July 16, 2022, it has made 44,000 round trips and transported over 2.9 million tons of coal,” she noted.

The automatic transport system has ramped up the efficiency of transport between China and Mongolia. “Each lorry can load with at most four standard containers and makes four to six round trips each month, and a single AGV loading with two standard containers can make six to seven round trips each day,” said Gao.

The AGV transport system has been applied across multiple Chinese land and sea ports for nearly two decades, but it was the first application in land port as a cross-border transport method, the Global Times learned, with the system also deployed at Ceke port, another land port bordering Mongolia. 

On the back of deepening China-Mongolia trade and increasing logistic capacity, Ganqimaodu port, China’s largest highway-linked land port, has handled 31.45 million tons of cargo as of Friday, surged by 120.35 percent year-on-year, Urad Customs told the Global Times on Sunday.

The trade of coal accounted for the majority of shipments, with the volume of import coal hitting 30.28 million tons, surging by 126.08 year-on-year. The cargo exports reached 426,900 tons, increased by 84.15 percent year-on-year.

Global Times