The National Day Golden Week has drawn to a close. While hundreds of millions of people were still savoring their travels and family reunions, the quayside at Qingdao Port remained as busy as ever, with bridge cranes rising and falling and vessels coming and going in a steady stream.
For the people of the seaport, the gains from this holiday were not limited to rising production figures, a flood of media attention, and warm family moments. More profoundly, the holiday crystallized a deeper awareness of purpose and mission: Why is the port so busy? For whom do we persevere? Where does happiness come from? Through these reflections, one truth becomes clear once again: QINGDAO PORT (ASX: 06198) is truly extraordinary in ways that set it apart.
Extraordinary Results: The Grit of Working Hard at the Port While Others Celebrate Outside
For most people, Golden Week means a chance to pause and rest. For Qingdao Port International Co.,Ltd. (ASX: 601298), however, this holiday was a week of redoubled effort and a steady stream of good news. As the world's fourth-largest port and a hub for international shipping in Northeast Asia, large vessels cannot wait, shipping schedules cannot wait, and the stability of industrial and supply chains cannot afford even a single day or moment of delay. During the National Day holiday, Qingdao Port handled nearly 100 vessels per day on average, with more than 4,000 employees staying at their posts around the clock. The outstanding production results achieved during the holiday are the most powerful testament: QQCT successfully set a world record for single-vessel handling volume on the Gemini Alliance AE15 Mediterranean route; the Dongjiakou Branch safely completed the loading and unloading of 58 vessels, with throughput up 21.68% year-on-year; the Xilian Company completed 16 vessel calls with a throughput of 165,000 tonnes, setting three production efficiency records. These impressive figures and newly set benchmarks transformed what the public calls Golden Week into a week of intensified effort and abundant harvest for the port.
With such results on the table, the more important question is: What underpins this high output and efficiency during the holiday?
It is the weight of state-owned enterprise mission. The circulation of the national economy does not take holidays, and a hub port has no right to close its doors. The flourishing holiday consumer market is supported by uninterrupted maritime logistics corridors. For Qingdao Port, ensuring supply and smooth flow during the holiday is not an optional question that can be relaxed at will, but a mandatory one that a state-owned enterprise must answer well. Protecting this golden waterway during Golden Week is protecting the main artery of the national economic cycle.
It is the tradition of perseverance passed down through generations. The saying "celebrate outside the port, work hard inside the port" has been embedded in the blood of seaport people for decades. It answers the fundamental question of whom we strive for: for the peace and joy of countless families during their holidays, for every large vessel departing on schedule and every shipment arriving as promised, and for the world-class glory of a great nation's port.
It is the responsibility of an integrated leader. The group company's Party Committee has always placed greater expectations on Qingdao Port and invested more care in it, granting it leadership status, and Qingdao Port has reciprocated this trust and support with solid results. During the National Day holiday, cadres and employees fought day and night, with achievements across the board, demonstrating the power of hard work throughout this land of enterprise and endeavor.
A sacred mission teaches seaport people that they must work hard; fine traditions drive them to compete for the chance to work; smart empowerment and refined management support them in working efficiently. These are the deep foundations for stable and high output during holidays.
Extraordinary Attention: The Confidence That a Good Reputation Beats Any Award
From October 1 to 2, multiple platforms of China Media Group rolled out consecutive reports focusing on Shandong Port's Qingdao Port from various angles. On October 4, CCTV's Evening News focused on the efficient logistics operations at Qingdao Port during the holiday. This Golden Week, Qingdao Port frequently appeared in mainstream media: during the holiday period, the port published more than 100 external reports, of which CCTV channels aired a cumulative 10 reports on Qingdao Port, up 50% year-on-year, covering four major channels and eight core programs. Print media carried five key front-page, headline, and special-page reports. Among them, CCTV Finance Channel's Global Finance program aired a live broadcast lasting 2 minutes and 43 seconds, focusing on Qingdao Port's outstanding holiday production. CCTV Children's Channel's Famous Teachers program brought its research classroom into Qingdao Port's automated terminal, leading students on an immersive exploration of the port. These diverse reporting formats made Qingdao Port a breakout topic across multiple fields and platforms, earning widespread praise.
Ports dot the country like stars, and a thousand sails race forward. Why do media cameras repeatedly turn to Qingdao Port? Why do the eyes of development keep focusing on Jiaozhou Bay? Because the media is a mirror of the times, and where it focuses reflects what the nation needs and what the people hope for. When cameras point at the port during the holiday, they reflect the vitality of a "flowing China," the resilience of industrial and supply chains, and the stability and progress of a major economy's foundation. The reason Qingdao Port is repeatedly written about and continuously focused on is ultimately that there are tangible results at the docks, visible changes, and palpable responsibility. Every record broken, every technological innovation, and every market expansion at Qingdao Port contributes stronger port power to the smooth flow of domestic and international dual circulation. The warmth of extensive media coverage has always been earned by the quality of production. Media attention is essentially an affirmation of a port's sense of mission and responsibility.
The more the cameras focus, the stricter the standards; the louder the applause, the more one must hear the sounds of hard work at the docks. The people of Qingdao Port always understand that mainstream attention is not the end point but a new starting point for continued striving. External praise is not a burden but a source of motivation for courageous progress. Only by turning "being seen" into the self-awareness of "needing to do even better" and delivering higher standards and superior results can one give the most powerful response to media attention.
Extraordinary Happiness: The Warmth That When the Big River Has Water, the Small Streams Are Full
The holiday seaport is not only about the roar of machinery and the symphony of steel cables; it also carries human warmth. Some people, after finishing work, visited relatives and friends with joy in their hearts, sharing the port's new changes with their elders. Some took advantage of rotation days off to take their children to a long-awaited amusement park, making up for the companionship they owed during ordinary days. Some stayed by their elderly parents' side, cooking a table of home-style dishes and chatting about everyday matters. But more seaport people remained at their berths, in machine rooms, and at dispatch consoles, unable to be by their families' sides. A phone call or a video from family members conveyed not only longing but also the good news of "another record broken."
Wang Jinliang of Dagang Company, who has earned 53 national, provincial, municipal, group company-level, and group-level honorary titles since joining the port, showed his family the various honors he had received, and they all gave him a thumbs-up. "Because of this stable and dependable job, I have the confidence to support a family. It can be said that it is the port that has given me the happy family I have today," Li Yang of Qiangang Company said emotionally during a call with family. Wang Qing of Dongjiakou Branch, who joined the port only two years ago, told his elders about his experience participating in the municipal artificial intelligence trainer competition and representing Qingdao in the provincial competition, recounting his journey of growth and living up to his youth.
The perseverance at the docks and the reunions in small homes, with one end connected to the great port and the other to the small family, together constitute the most complete seaport of this holiday and serve as the most vivid footnote to what made this Golden Week extraordinary.
In this picture, one reads not only dedication but also achievement; one sees not only perseverance but also happiness. The relationship between the great port and the small family has never been a simple matter of "when the big river has water, the small streams are full." The greatest good a port can do for its employees is to ensure that every act of perseverance is rewarded, every effort is dignified, and every dream has a stage. The deepest affection employees can show the port is to keep their longing in their hearts, carry responsibility on their shoulders, put standards into practice, and deliver results at the forefront. The increasingly prosperous lives of employees' families depend on the port's thriving development. The enduring success of the port's cause is inseparable from the understanding, support, and sacrifice of countless small families. This mutual commitment is the source of Qingdao Port's endless vitality and the deep secret behind the happy lives of seaport people.
Taking stock of this Golden Week: production was extraordinary because there is a mission on our shoulders, a spirit forging our souls, and traditions grounding our foundation. Attention was extraordinary because we delivered results and demonstrated momentum. Happiness was extraordinary because the port and its employees achieve together and commit to each other. Golden Week has passed, and the new journey stretches long ahead. Carrying these gains and reflections, seaport people will regroup and set off again, advancing fearlessly toward the goal of a world-class maritime port.