an average year-on-year TEU growth of 18 percent

FROM January to September, an average year-on-year TEU growth of 18 per cent was recorded in the throughput of sea and river ports in China's Fujian and Zhejiang provinces, Xinhua reported.

During this period, ports in southeast China's Fujian province handled 5 million TEU. Foreign trade rose 10 per cent to 3.6 million TEU while domestic trade went up 45.6 per cent to 1.4 million TEU.

Most of these containers were lifted by the ports of Fuzhou, Xiamen and Quanzhou. Fuzhou handled 883,000 TEU, up 19.6 per cent; Xiamen handled 3.4 million TEU, up 17 per cent while Quanzhou lifted 755,800 TEU, an increase of 23 per cent.

To the east, Zhejiang ports handled 7.3 million TEU, up 33.8 per cent year on year.

Cargo throughput of these ports rose 9.5 per cent to 660 million tons. Seaports handled 430 million tons, up 15 per cent. River ports handled 230 million tons, up 0.5 per cent. Foreign trade rose 10 per cent to 160 million tons.

Zhejiang's port of Ningbo's box throughput increased 35 per cent to 6.9 million TEU. Cargo throughput rose 13 per cent to 256 million tons. Foreign trade went 8.6 per cent up to 119 million tons.

In September, Zhejiang ports' container throughput grew 24.9 per cent year on year to 894,000 TEU and cargo throughput rose 7.7 per cent to 76.5 million. Seaports handled 48.9 million tons, up 14.5 per cent. River ports handled 27.5 million tons, down 2.5 per cent. Foreign trade increased 7 per cent to 17 million tons.

Also in September, Ningbo lifted 851,000 TEU of boxes, increasing 26 per cent over the corresponding month in the preceding year and cargo throughput went up 8.5 per cent to 28.6 million tons. Foreign trade increased slightly by 0.4 per cent to 12.9 million tons.