Chinese container volumes up 22.4% in H1

The majority of trade was handled by sea ports, with cargo volumes up 17.6% to 1.64 billion tonnes and containers up 21.4% to 39.3 million teu. Cargo volumes at China’s river ports were up 20.9% to 555.33 million tonnes, and container throughput was up 39.3% to 2.83 million teu.

Shanghai handled the largest amount of cargo: up 11.6% to 227.12 million tonnes, while its container volume rose 17.5% to 10 million teu. Guangzhou handled 152.99 million tonnes of cargo (up 46.7%) and 3 million teu (up 40.2%). Tianjin handled 126.4 million tonnes of cargo (up 6.1%), while Shenzhen handled 8.3 million teu (up 12.2%).

By comparison, the Port of Rotterdam handled 186 million tonnes of cargo in the first half of 2006, up 1.1% compared with the second half of 2005. Container throughput at the Dutch port was up 2% to 4.7 million teu.