Shanghai Zhenhua Heavy Industry Co Ltd (ZPMC), the world's largest port machinery manufacturer, sees high-tech port terminals as the key to its long-term growth, and the US market as an important part of its global strategy.

The Shanghai-listed company plans to make automated container terminals a new growth engine of the company for the next decade. It has already made its mark in the automated terminal sector.

ZPMC is constructing the automated terminal project of Qingdao Port, in China, and the fourth phase of the Yangshan Deep-water Port, in Shanghai. In addition, China's first automated container terminal built by ZPMC at Xiamen Ocean Gate Container Terminal is under trial operation.

"ZPMC is now trying to focus a great amount of resources on automatic terminals, and we expect this sector to bolster our development in the coming decade," said Song Hailiang, chairman of ZPMC and vice-president of China Communications Construction Co Ltd (CCCC). ZPMC is a subsidiary of CCCC, a Fortune 500 Global company.

According to Song, the future of terminals lies in unmanned technology. Through remote control, intelligent container terminals will have better performance and lower operational costs than traditional ones.

"ZPMC won't miss this great revolution. The development of automated terminals will be able to combine ZPMC's existing core business of steel cranes and related services with more diversified development," he said.

In April, 36 sets of port equipment went into service at the automated Long Beach Container Terminal (LBCT) in California.

All the lifting equipment of the $1.2-billion investment at LBCT automated port, including 14 quay cranes (shore bridges), 70 automated rail cranes and five automated railway cranes, will be delivered by ZPMC around 2019.

The company attributed its achievements to persistent research and development. For more than two decades, ZPMC has been allotting more than 3 percent of its revenue to its R&D department, which has now expanded to more than 2,000 workers.

liazhu@chinadailyusa.com