As of Dec. 31, Shanghai Port has handled 537 million tons of cargo in 2006, hanging on to its world number one spot, according to port administration figures released on Sunday.

Shanghai Port handles 90 million tons more of cargo than Singapore port, which ranked second.

According to the Shanghai Port Administration, the port's annual handling capacity topped 100 million tons in 1984 and the figure rose to 200 million tons in 2000 and 300 million tons in 2003.

This year's figure was 21.2 percent more than that for last year and accounted for 12 percent of China's total for 2006.

Shanghai Port handled 21.71 million twenty-foot-equivalent unit (TEU) containers this year, up 20.1 percent from last year and accounted for 24 percent of the country's total for this year.

A record 55,000 ships, including 23,000 container ships, berthed at the port this year. The port handles shipping routes reaching more than 300 ports worldwide.