Dalian is building a maritime gateway for Northeast China's opening to the outside world.

The giant ship whistles as it sets sail, the freight train roars westward, cold chain trucks shuttle through the port area, automated quay cranes operate orderly, remote cargo stations connect routes to central China, and LNG refueling ships dock steadily—this is the daily bustling scene of openness in Dalian, Liaoning Province. It is also a vivid practice of the coastal city leveraging its port advantages to activate the Northeast's sea-land corridor and safeguard the Northeast's industrial chain for overseas expansion.

As the Northeast's only ice-free port and the core city of the Northeast Asia International Shipping Center, Dalian boasts a comprehensive multimodal transport system integrating rail, road, sea, air, and pipelines. It serves as a vital hub for foreign trade containers, commodity vehicles, and imported crude oil in the Northeast region. Since the implementation of the national comprehensive freight hub chain enhancement initiative, Dalian has coordinated provincial and municipal fiscal funds totaling 3.13 billion yuan, leveraged 9.85 billion yuan in social investment, and collaborated with Shenyang to create the Shenyang-Dalian dual-core hub. This has paved a distinctive path of revitalization characterized by port-driven development, multi-line linkage, port-industry symbiosis, and land-sea coordination.

Hub Aggregates Resources to Build a Strong Magnet for Openness

Based on the "Two Islands and Three Bays" port cluster layout, port, airport, and inland station resources are being aggregated across Dalian.

The logistics highland near the port is growing rapidly. Key projects such as the Dayaowan Bonded Logistics Center (Type B) and the commodity vehicle sea-rail logistics park have been completed and put into use, adding and renovating freight hub areas exceeding 1.91 million square meters. Standardized warehouses, bonded yards, and roll-on/roll-off berths are laid out in clusters.

Yidu Cold Chain has built a large-scale 400,000-ton storage facility, creating a top-tier international transshipment base for aquatic products and attracting over 20 leading fresh food companies. The commodity vehicle logistics park offers integrated services for vehicle storage, bonded modification, and roll-on/roll-off shipping, solidifying its position as the top northern port for vehicle imports and exports. By 2025, vehicle export volumes are expected to continue leading the Northeast.

Breakthroughs in cross-border air transport. Dalian has established the Northeast's first cross-provincial remote cargo station, connecting Dalian with Ezhou Huahu International Airport via a two-way air transport channel and building a "Dalian—Central China—Global" air freight network. The Dalian-Tokyo international cargo flight route has been launched, with increased frequency for air express routes to Japan, South Korea, and Southeast Asia, addressing the Northeast's cross-border air logistics shortcomings and achieving comprehensive coverage of sea, land, and air freight.

Smart green port upgrades. Dalian has implemented the Dayaowan Smart Port 2.0 project, achieving full coverage of new energy equipment and 100% utilization of standardized transport units. The nation's first domestic biofuel oil, ship ammonia fuel, bonded LNG for international vessels, green ship ammonia fuel, and green LNG have successively been introduced, providing pioneering experience for the supply of green marine fuels nationwide.

Additionally, Dalian Port has acquired methanol "ship-to-ship" refueling capabilities, becoming one of the few ports globally capable of refueling ships with biofuel, green methanol, LNG, and ammonia fuel.

Weaving a Network of Channels to Open the Northeast Sea-Land Corridor Artery

Dalian leverages its coastal gateway advantage and complements Shenyang's China-Europe freight train assembly center to establish a "sea gateway and land distribution hub" intermodal transport pattern between Shenyang and Dalian.

Global connectivity via ocean routes. The route network covers 160 countries and over 300 ports, directly reaching all core ports under RCEP (Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership). The new Middle East route saves 10 days of travel compared to traditional paths, significantly reducing export logistics costs and providing stable maritime export channels for Northeast manufacturing.

Efficient sea-rail intermodal transport. Dalian continues to increase the frequency of premium sea-rail freight trains connecting Shenyang, Changchun, and Harbin, with cold chain trains running twice weekly on a regular basis. By 2025, the city's rail-water intermodal container volume is expected to reach 540,000 TEUs, a year-on-year increase of 5.8%, with a 100% completion rate for one-hour transshipment. Innovations such as the "direct pickup at the dock and direct loading upon arrival" single-document model have been implemented, with sea-rail intermodal transport volumes exceeding 15,000 TEUs. This significantly reduces cargo transshipment time and simultaneously operates six international China-Europe freight trains departing from Dalian Port, directly reaching Central Asia, Russia, and Belarus, forming a "sea entry, train westward, land-sea bidirectional" circulation system.

Relying on the Northeast's three provinces and one region multimodal transport development alliance, Dalian integrates the local TIR road cross-border transport network, building a "sea transport + rail + road" multi-modal complementary supply chain to effectively mitigate logistics risks caused by sea transport price fluctuations and geopolitical conflicts.

Deep Industry Integration Empowers "Northeast Manufacturing" to Sail Overseas

The core focus of chain enhancement lies in connecting the port hub with the entire industrial chain of the port area and hinterland. Leveraging a comprehensive multimodal transport system, Dalian provides full-chain logistics support for five major industries: automotive, equipment, petrochemical, cold chain, and grain, achieving mutual empowerment between hub construction and the real economy.

Complete port logistics facilities enable Dalian to gather industries such as shipbuilding and marine engineering, fine chemicals, cross-border e-commerce, and cold chain processing. The hub economy attracts nearly 100,000 enterprises, creates 336,000 jobs, contributes nearly 50 billion yuan in taxes, and fosters a virtuous cycle of port-industry-city integration.

Over two years of intensive development, Dalian has leveraged the policy benefits of the national comprehensive freight hub chain enhancement initiative to achieve breakthroughs in hard infrastructure connectivity, soft service connectivity, and integrated mechanisms. It has formed replicable and promotable "Dalian experiences" in five key areas: sea-rail intermodal transport, ocean routes, green smart ports, cross-border cold chains, and vehicle exports.