Tianjin North Port is located at the north of the Xingang Navigation Channel, adjacent to the estuary of the Yongding New River to the south, Haibin Avenue to the west and conjugating the inverse "F-shaped" northern port basin with the Tianjin Port East Zone. As planned, the coastline is 19.1 km long in total and the land occupies an area of 31.2 sq km.
Tianjin Port North Zone has concentrated on the delivery of minerals and other large bulk cargos and to give priority to containers, followed by cargos with less environmental impact, such as autos and steel & iron. The general berths will be reserved mainly for steel & iron, as well as foods and other commodities; the Port Basin #4 and the terminals on both sides of the East Pierhead will remain functional for containers; the western coastline to the west of the northern port basin serves as a large container terminal, complemented by the shipping of autos.
After the changes, three Operational Zones have been allocated respectively for general cargo berths, container operations and commercial automobile ro-ro, so that the coastline arrangement is focused on the embankment of the East Pierhead and the North Port Basin #1. Apart from the Tianjin Free Trade Zone, the adjacent land of the operational zones will be mainly designed for logistics. The details include:
The general cargo berth port zone, located to the west of the East Pierhead, includes a passenger transport company, a quay berth for the First Company and the pierhead #1~#3. There are 29 production-based berths, and the coastline is 6,022 m long.
The general cargo berth zone will speed up the transportation of minerals and other operations and give priority to the steel, iron and food operations. As the construction is ongoing, the passenger terminal of the Beitang Port Zone will gradually reduce passenger transport facilities; the integration of all land to the south of Xingang No.4 Road shall be scaled up; with the increase of operational yards, the categories of cargos need to be adjusted forming a centralized operational pattern with a clear purpose. After adjustments, the general cargo berth zone covers a land area of 3.97 sq km with a land depth of around 660 m per linear meter of coastline, achieving the combined carrying capacity of 38 million tons.