The ports and harbours of China surpassed the 10 million TEU level in container throughput for the first time, reaching 10.08 million TEU in September, setting a new monthly record.

The growth in container volume was a result of growing demand for transport from a thriving foreign and domestic trade, said an unnamed analyst from the Ministry of Communications quoted by Xinhua.

The analyst added that the Yangtze River Delta was the fastest growing region in terms of container throughput, followed by the Bohai Rim.

From January to September, the container throughput of Chinese ports came to 82 million TEU, increasing 22.7 per cent over the same period a year ago.

The analyst said the fourth quarter is the conventional peak season due to Christmas exports. In this quarter, box volume of the Chinese ports will continue to grow steadily and likely surpass 100 million TEU by the end of November.