Journalists from LAC countries wowed by smart parking garage in Lianyungang Port, E China

A foreign journalist watches a demonstration of how vehicles are transported in and out of a vertical smart parking garage, in Lianyungang Port, Lianyungang city, east China's Jiangsu Province, on Oct. 22, 2024. (People's Daily Online/Chang Sha)

"It's actually so impressive! It's fully automated. There's no one here that's on the controls," said Guilherme Oblasser Paladino, a journalist at Brazil's Brasil247, visiting a vertical smart parking garage in Lianyungang Port, Lianyungang city, east China's Jiangsu Province.

After watching a demonstration of how vehicles are transported in and out of the garage, Paladino said it is cost saving, and improves the efficiency and convenience of car transportation, showing a glimpse of China's advanced logistics.

On Oct. 22, 2024, a group of journalists from Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC) countries visited the five-story garage, the main building of an international green and intelligent logistic center for automobiles in Lianyungang.

The garage, different from traditional garages, adopts the technology of automated guided vehicles (AGVs) to empower smart parking, featuring such strengths as high flexibility, low maintenance costs, and strong emergency response capacity, said Li Linsen, a project manager of CIMC AIoT Technology Co., Ltd., a subsidiary of China International Marine Containers (Group) Co., Ltd. (CIMC). He added that it's especially valuable for a location like the port, as the port has limited land resources and the garage helps relieve that burden.

At present, Lianyungang Port has launched 18 "ro-ro" (roll-on/roll-off) shipping routes, connecting it with regions like the Middle East, West Africa, North Africa, the Americas, East and South Asia, and Europe. In 2023, more than 300,000 units of vehicles were exported via "ro-ro" ships at the port.

Journalists take a group photo at the mark of the eastern terminal of the New Eurasian Land Bridge in Lianyungang Port, Lianyungang city, east China's Jiangsu Province, on Oct. 22, 2024. (People's Daily Online/Chang Sha)

Photo taken on Oct. 22, 2024, shows containers neatly stacked in Lianyungang Port, Lianyungang city, east China's Jiangsu Province. (People's Daily Online/Chang Sha)

A foreign journalist interviews a staff member of the Lianyungang Port, in Lianyungang city, east China's Jiangsu Province, on Oct. 22, 2024. (People's Daily Online/Chang Sha)