Ningbo port throughput sets global high-water mark in 2017

The Chinese port of Ningbo-Zhoushan saw cargo volumes exceed 1 billion tons in 2017, setting a new world record, the port announced in late December.    China’s Ningbo-Zhoushan Port set a world record for cargo throughput with 1 billion tons handled in 2017, the port announced late last month.
   On Dec. 27, 2017, the vessel Mary Maersk loaded the last container that pushed the port volumes to record levels. Just two weeks earlier, the port exceeded 900 million tons. The vessel discharged 21,517 TEUs and loaded 1,975 TEUs at the port, before heading to Shanghai, Xiamen, Yantian, Tanjung Pelepas and off to Europe via the Suez Canal.
   The port has recently deepened cooperation with major shipping companies and harbors along the government-backed Belt and Road initiative, adding five sea routes to raise its total to 86, according to the state-run media outlet Xinhau. Ningbo-Zhoushan port handled over 10 million standard containers from countries and regions along the Belt and Road this year, up 16 percent year on year, reports said.
    Additionally, the port launched sea-rail transport services with 11 trains providing services to 36 cities in 14 provinces in China as well as countries in central and northern Asia and eastern Europe, said Xinhua. Container handling volume of its sea-rail transport is expected to surpass 400,000 standard containers this year, a 60 percent increase year-over-year.