Zhang said the first overseas order was in 2019, and was from CSP Abu Dhabi Port Container Terminal (COSCO) in the UAE for a smart quay crane solution, which was followed by driverless container trucks.

These 65-ton, 66-meter-long quay cranes are the first of their kind to be shipped by DHHI to a developed European country.

"Wanda One Sydney currently has two major developments in the pipeline in Australia, with the One Circular Quay development and its 190 luxury apartments and five-star hotel almost set to launch, while their Jewel towers in the popular Australian tourist location of the Gold Coast is set to be completed within the next two years.

After the first and second phases of construction, the port has 10 berths, with a quay length of 3,487 meters, able to handle container, bulk, general, wheeled and liquid bulk cargoes from large ships.

"ZPMC claimed 82 percent of the world's quay crane market last year, according to World Cargo News, a trade journal based in the United Kingdom.

Shanghai Zhenhua Heavy Industries Co Ltd, a unit of China Communications Construction Co Ltd, shipped the first three quay cranes and 10 rubber-tired gantry cranes for the Lekki Port project in Nigeria earlier this week.

Located about 60 kilometers east of Lagos, Lekki is the first modern deep-sea port in the country, and it is to be equipped with five quay cranes and 15 rubber-tired gantry cranes, said Zhou Yafen, deputy general manager of ZPMC's Changxing production base.

Guangzhou plans to build the world's first automated unmanned parallel container quay for the fourth phase construction of the Nansha area of Guangzhou Port by 2021.

It will provide an innovative solution for handling and transport automation through automated quay cranes for container handling and automated rail-mounted gantry cranes.

The area is the most important quay for containers, accounting for more than 70 percent of the total container capacity of Guangzhou Port, said Mo Zhiping, deputy general engineer of Guangzhou Port Group.

Furthermore, remotely controlled quay cranes lift loaded containers from cargo ships, before loading them onto unmanned trucks.

Many high-definition cameras backed by 5G installed on quay cranes -- which can accurately identify the box number, the vehicle number and other information -- clerks can complete tallying work at the intelligent operation room, instead of working outdoors against the howling wind, or blinding sunlight.

Moreover, the tallying work efficiency also improved, where one laborer, instead of just watching one quay crane, can now observe more cranes at once.

Currently, 5G technology is used in operations involving quay cranes, rail-mounted gantry cranes, container movement and high-definition video data transmission.

The automation at the terminal has been enlarged by application of 5G technology, "which has covered every corner of the terminal", said Li Yongcui, a deputy general manager of Qingdao Port Automated Container Terminal Co. Qingdao Port started to use the 5G technology early this year, an advantage of which is that the quay cranes could automatically move containers.

Currently, 5G technology has been applied in the operation of quay cranes and rail-mounted gantry cranes, container movement as well as high-definition video data transmission.