State-owned Enterprises in Jiangsu Roll Out Full-spectrum AI Solutions Across Highways, Customs and Inland Ports

As reported by Xinhua News Agency, provincial state-owned enterprises in Jiangsu have deployed a raft of high-value artificial intelligence use cases across transport, foreign trade and port operations, delivering tangible efficiency gains while pooling cross-industry innovation resources to resolve long-standing operational and service bottlenecks.

State-owned undertakings form the backbone of national economic stability and serve as core carriers for industrial AI rollout. A batch of 67 high-impact AI scenarios was formally unveiled by Jiangsu provincial state-owned enterprises back in April, opening industrial testing grounds to attract external innovators and translate digital algorithms into practical productivity gains.

AI-powered aerial inspection systems overhaul highway bridge maintenance

Artificial intelligence has evolved from a supplementary tool into a core enabler for the full lifecycle management of Jiangsu’s expressway network, covering investment, construction, maintenance, operation, administration and passenger services.

Launched on 11 June, the AI² video monitoring and early warning platform operates around the clock at Jiangsu’s provincial expressway network dispatching centre. Radar-vision integrated sensors are densely installed along key carriageways, capturing full-spectrum traffic data and abnormal incidents. More than 7,500 AI-enabled surveillance cameras cover approximately 2,000 kilometres of roadway, with the intelligent incident detection module running across 1,705 kilometres of trunk routes. The system replicates human visual cognition to interpret real-time traffic footage and flag emerging hazards.

Once irregularities are flagged, alert messages with precise mileage markers and snapshot evidence are synchronised within milliseconds to a joint command platform accessible to traffic control, enforcement and road operation teams, streamlining early detection, risk notification and rapid on-site intervention. Drones operated by a provincial transport subsidiary fill blind zones inaccessible to ground patrols, such as bridge pylons and suspension cable structures.

Early drone units functioned merely as flying cameras, requiring manual footage review after each flight cycle. Joint development with an aerospace technology group has delivered algorithmic edge computing hardware to equip drones with independent analytical capabilities. Automated drone landing stations have been built across nearly 50 sites, with pre-programmed flight paths covering nine major trunk routes including the Beijing-Shanghai Expressway and Taizhou Bridge.

Fully autonomous flight cycles take off, cruise, conduct structural scans and return to docking stations without human intervention. Thermal imaging modes automatically flag stationary vehicles during night shifts or adverse weather, outperforming human visual monitoring. Comparative analysis of sequential inspection datasets enables the platform to track structural defects such as cracks and water seepage, shifting maintenance workflows from reactive repairs to predictive intervention.

Aerial patrol units cut average ground response times by half and accelerate congestion clearance across the provincial highway network. The transport group has set clear strategic targets for AI investment totalling over 1 billion yuan, covering 30 high-value AI deployment scenarios and 80 vertical industrial models, with a province-wide intelligent perception network taking shape.

Large language models slash customs documentation lead times

AI transformation has reshaped core data workflows at Nanjing Riverside Electronic Port, a facility run by a provincial investment group. On 12 June, multi-page raw import and export documentation is fed into an AI intelligent declaration and clearance large model platform, generating standard customs filings within one to three minutes.

Jiangsu hosts over 100,000 active foreign trade firms and 2,000 customs brokerage agencies. Manual drafting previously took each declaration specialist 10 to 15 minutes per entry, with daily output capped at 30 to 50 filings. The AI platform lifts daily processing capacity to between 150 and 200 documents, representing a fourfold to fivefold efficiency uplift. Pilot testing is underway, with further computing infrastructure expansion scheduled to support massive concurrent filings from regional traders.

Digital port connectivity forms a vital component of the broader Yangtze River Delta trade ecosystem. The Fourth Shanghai International Port Smart Trade Co-operation Conference has outlined frameworks to dismantle industry silos, unify fragmented data pools and build collaborative digital platforms, facilitating co-ordination between government bodies, commercial operators and cross-industry participants. New AI customs tools and a regional port data atlas were released at the event to address industry-wide demands for scalable computing and interconnected data architecture.

Jiangsu’s international trade single window acts as a critical data hub linking Yangtze Delta shipping and foreign trade systems, expanding computing capacity and opening AI scenario access to market participants. The platform delivers 25 core standard modules, 155 functional tools and 35 localised customised services, with direct data interfaces established with 30 administrative departments. Cumulative cost savings for 214,300 registered enterprises stand at nearly 915 million yuan. Provincial state-owned enterprises advance replicable digital clearance frameworks through targeted innovation initiatives to streamline cross-border trade workflows.

Remote automated gantry operations lift inland port throughput

Remote control booths at Longtan Container Terminal under Jiangsu Port Group deliver a fully digitised handling experience often likened to an oversized arcade claw machine. Operators stationed before wide-format display panels manipulate remote gantry cranes to pick, lift, shift and stack containers with pinpoint accuracy.

Traditional ground-based roles confined single operators to one gantry unit within cramped four-square-metre cabins for extended shifts. Current remote set-ups allow one member of staff to oversee five or six machines simultaneously, cutting physical workload and boosting terminal throughput. The terminal has built an automated yard capable of processing more than 2.5 million twenty-foot equivalent units annually, emerging as a benchmark model for intelligent inland port development.

Historic berth scheduling relied on subjective experience and carried high margins of error; real-time operational datasets now feed an algorithmic system to generate optimal vessel allocation plans and raise overall terminal handling capacity. An in-house intelligent algorithm warehouse built on the Terminal Operating System governs end-to-end production planning, shifting operational decision-making from experience-led to data-driven governance. Automated gantry equipment records average efficiency improvements of more than 20 per cent compared with conventional manual handling regimes.

Intelligent upgrades at Longtan Terminal form a key component of the provincial port group’s AI+ industrial transformation strategy, strengthening core competitiveness through digital shipping infrastructure. The Global Smart Port Development Index Report 2026, published by Xinhua Index Research Institute, notes that smart port construction has moved past isolated equipment automation to full-chain collaborative intelligence. Competition between global terminals now centres on integrated algorithmic systems rather than standalone hardware. Large language models and autonomous AI agents enable ports to progress from precise mechanical execution to independent operational decision-making, with the next five years marking a pivotal window for widespread industrial AI implementation across maritime logistics.

Provincial state-owned enterprises will scale investment in algorithm research, computing infrastructure and cross-industry AI integration, rolling out additional customised intelligent systems for transport, foreign trade and port logistics sectors across Jiangsu.