The Group conducts its coal service business principally through 23 coal berths in Qinhuangdao Port.

Almost all of the coal the Group handles is for outbound shipment. With Qinhuangdao Port and Caofeidian Port strategically located at the east end of the Daqin Line, the west-to-east transportation artery for China’s domestic coal trade, most of the coal the Group handles is carried through the Daqin Line from coal mines in Inner Mongolia, Shanxi Province and Shaanxi Province and loaded onto vessels for further north-to-south transportation to China’s south and east coastal regions. Coal mainly arrives at the Company’s ports via railway.

The Group’s highly automated and integrated operation system is able to efficiently unload and load coal from trains to ships, which increases its service quality and loading and unloading efficiency and further increases port throughput capacity. Its designed rate of train unloading and ship loading for coal is 6,000 tonnes/hour, which is among the top tier in the industry, according to Drewry. Also, the Group works closely with relevant railways, maritime bureaus and maritime piloting departments. This enables the Group to enhance its operational efficiency, improve information exchange, achieve seamless intermodal transits and promote organized ship loading and orderly berthing.

Through the Group’s extensive experience in working with coal, railway and power companies, the Group has developed an effective communication model regarding transport plans, and a cooperation mechanism that collects, analyzes and feeds trend information in the domestic demand for coal to the relevant railway departments to facilitate the efficient management of coal cargo flows, which in turn, enhances its service quality and increases its cargo turnover rate and facility utilization rates.