The explosion destroyed a significant amount of goods stored at and around the port, in the Binhai New District.
Large shipping containers were tossed into the air like matchsticks and were crumpled by the blasts.
A logistics park containing several thousand cars was incinerated by the fireball. Renault says some 1,500 of its cars were lost, while Hyundai said it had around 4,000 cars on the site - although it has not yet assessed the level of damage.