Container throughput rises 30%
( 2003-10-25 10:17) (China Daily)
Container throughput at the
Chinese mainland's major ports - driven by strong growth of foreign trade -
rose 30.6 per cent year on year to more than 34 million twenty-foot equivalent
units (TEUs) for the first nine months of this year, official figures showed.
The country's largest Shanghai ports in East China moved 8.2 million TEUs for
the first three quarters, up 33.1 per cent from a year ago, according to the
latest data released by the Ministry of Communication.
The second-largest Shenzhen ports, with new berths in operation, handled some
7.6 million TEUs for the period, representing an increase of 38.6 per cent.
The ministry forecast that accumulated container throughput in the mainland's
major ports could reach 46 to 50 million TEUs for this year at a growth of 25 to
35 per cent.
Shanghai is expected to outperform South Korea's Pusan port by moving 11
million TEUs to become the world's third-largest container terminal, said the
ministry. The top two are Hong Kong and Singapore.
The ministry attributed the growth to the expanding foreign trade of the
country, which contributes nearly 50 per cent to the gross domestic product.
According to the Customs figures, China's total imports
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