Since Yantian Port was chosen for the second round of customs reform in February 2004, Shenzhen Customs has paid much attention to the progress of reform.
On 1 May 2004, with eight quay cranes deployed, YICT achieved a record-breaking vessel productivity of 400.23 moves per hour and a quay crane rate of 51.70 moves per hour.
On 3 May 2004, Yantian International Container Terminals (YICT) took delivery of two quay cranes and six rubber-tyred gantry cranes (RTGC) to prepare for the opening of the third berth of the terminals' Phase III expansion project in July.
In April 2004, CKYH (COSCO, "K"Line, Yang Ming and Hanjin) launched two America services and one Europe service at Yantian. By the end of April, there were 53 weekly services calling at Yantian.
On 20 April 2004, the Chengdu-Shenzhen Express Railway (Rongshen Railway) was launched simultaneously in Shenzhen and Chengdu
On 20 April 2004, YICT announced that the Company has signed a HK$3.3 billion 5-year term loan facility (the "Facility") with a consortium of banks. According to the Facility
Despite the quickly increasing throughput at YICT in 2003, traffic safety at the terminal improved substantially. This was accomplished through the joint efforts of the local Government, Traffic Police Brigade, trucking companies and YICT.
On 6 March 2004, CP Ships launched a new America service V1 at Yantian. The company has deployed five vessels on the new service.
On 24 February 2004, Mr. Tang Longjun, Director of Dapeng Customs, reported that Yantian International Container Terminals, YICT has been chosen as the pilot port for Customs Reform.
On 27 February 2004, 11 more shipping lines signed a "Vessel Pre-inspection Agreement" with Yantian Frontier Inspection. All international line-haul vessels are now permitted to implement pre-inspection procedures.
On 27 February 2004, YICT welcomed CSCL's container vessel "CSCL Felixstowe", marking the commencement of its second Asia Europe Express (AEX2).
With a joint investment of RMB 240 million from Yantian Port Group (YPG) and Yantian International Container Terminals (YICT), the Mingzhu Interchange opened to traffic on Friday, 12 December 2003.
On 17 November 2003, KMTC launched its third Asian service, Japan/China/Thailand (JCT). The addition of the JCT service brings the number of Asian services calling at YICT to eight .
On 26 November 2003, the second berth of YICT's Phase III entered use, following the launch of the first berth of YICT's Phase III in mid-October.
On 14 November 2003, YICT received two new quay cranes. To date, a total of 27 RTGCs and seven quay cranes have arrived at YICT.