On 20 July 2004, "MSC ANS" made its inaugural visit to Yantian to commence a new Asia-America service named Golden Gate Pendulum (GGP). The service is operated by Mediterranean Shipping Company S.A.(MSC).
On 12 July 2004, "CSCL Asia", the largest vessel of the China Shipping (CSCL) container fleet at 8,468 TEU, made a maiden call at Yantian International Container Terminals (YICT).
On 12 July 2004, Yantian International Container Terminals commenced use of a brand new 29-lane gatehouse, part of the extensive Phase III Development Project.
With the ever-increasing marketing requirements, CP Ships enhanced its Asia-Australia and Asia-America services to increase shipping capacities.
On 30 June 2004, the Ministry of Communications (MOC) organised various port and ship security exercises at Yantian International Container Terminals (YICT) to practice the application of the IMO’s International Ship and Port Facility Security (ISPS) Code.
On 1 June 2004, "Dagmar Maersk" made an inaugural call to YICT, commencing Maersk Sealand's new America service TP8.
With the introduction of a new system designed to save time and labour costs, ocean shipments at Yantian will soon be allowed to undergo electronic application and inspection even before they arrive at the port.
On 27 May 2004, a new Europe service named Lion Service,operated by Mediterranean Shipping Company S.A. (MSC), made an inaugural call at Yantian.
Every year on YICT’s Open Day, many local students are invited to visit the terminal. On 25 May 2004, YICT warmly received 90 students from Shenzhen University.
On 13 May 2004, Guangdong Provincial Government approved the Port Facilities Security Assessment and Port Facilities Security Plan of YICT.
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