On 8 October 2026, People's Daily reported that China's main ports kept ships moving and cargo flowing through the National Day holiday. In the first three days of the holiday, Yangshan Deep-Water Port Phase 4, Shanghai's automated terminal, handled more than 79,000 TEU, up 18.7% from a year earlier, and was expected to pass 180,000 TEU over the seven days.
In Guangxi, the Qinzhou automated container terminal ran 24 hours a day and expected throughput of about 45,000 TEU from 1 to 7 October. The Pinglu Canal opened to navigation on 16 September. According to the report, iron ore and auto parts from Yunnan and Guizhou now travel south by rail and water to ASEAN markets, while coal and bauxite from Guinea and Laos move north up the canal into Southwest China. A local terminal manager said the shorter route has brought in new customers from Guigang, Nanning, Baise and from Yunnan, Guizhou and Sichuan.
In the northeast, Dalian Container Terminal, which carries more than 98% of Northeast China's foreign-trade container volume, has opened five new foreign-trade routes this year. On 7 October an Ocean Alliance Europe-service ship called with seven working lines to handle nearly 4,900 TEU in under 20 hours. Total holiday handling was expected to rise about 20% year on year, including precision instruments, finished vehicles and equipment parts bound for Europe.
Construction also continued over the holiday. Shanghai's third automated terminal, at Xiaoyangshan North, now has all five automated quay cranes in place, and Qinzhou is building five 5,000-tonne river-sea automated container berths. The report says China now has 60 automated terminals in operation, including 30 automated container terminals, about 27% of the global total. Average port time for international container ships at major coastal ports is 1.7 days. In the first eight months of the year, China's port cargo throughput reached 12.06 billion tonnes, with foreign-trade throughput up 2.8%.