The city of Qingdao is a renowned port city in east China's Shandong province. It also has Asia's first fully automated port. More than a year has passed since the port began its operation, and our reporter Zou Yun took to the site to explore how the port is performing, and what new momentum the SCO summit will bring.

No workers, no drivers, it is all automated.

After over a year of operation, it has not only achieved the output of manual terminals, but consistently outperformed it.

What made it happen was the combination of some of the most advanced technologies the world has to offer.

YANG JIEMIN, VICE GENERAL MANAGER QINGDAO NEW QIANWAN CONTAINER TERMINAL "We made use of AI, big data, internet of things, and unmanned driving, to achieve full automation. Our peak performance climbed from a single crane processing 30 containers an hour to over 40. That's a world record."

ZOU YUN QINGDAO "70 percent, that's how much the automatic port has improved its efficiency. The high technologies have shifted the labor-intensive industry to an innovation-driven one. Or in their own words, it's a transformation from sweat economy to wisdom economy."

Not only has this shift made the Port faster, smarter and greener, it has also helped the port to enhance its role as the gateway to Central and South Asia.

Last year, trade volume between Qingdao and SCO countries reached almost 40 billion yuan. Over 10 percent of what it was last year ago. And the growth of trade ties is also paving the way for the Qingdao port to share its valuable lessons and experiences.

JIAO GUANGJUN, PRESIDENT QINGDAO PORT INTERNATIONAL "The development of a company lies in a visionary strategic positioning. We have made lots of adjustments to our growth model to cope with the changing economic situation. The other lesson we could share with SCO countries is the great focus we place on innovation. It is the innovations in technology, operations, and management that propelled our port to be among the world's leading ports."

Jiao Guangjun said he expects the upcoming Qingdao Summit to bring economic cooperation between China and SCO countries to a new high. With already 16 routes in operation, the port is considering opening more docking sites to prepare for new opportunities. ZY, CGTN, QD.