China will reach the magic 100 million TEU mark this year. (For the record a TEU is a Twenty foot Equivalent Unit or a sort of standard container. One 40 ft. Container (FEU) is equal to two TEU’s.) It recorded 72 million TEUs in the first eight months of this year. Last year it was 93 million TEUs.

Wang Qingyun, director general of the Communications and Transport Department of the National Development and Reform Commission, said, ‘There is no doubt that the total China container throughput will exceed the 100 million TEU mark this year.’ He said ‘China container cargo is still in the fast lane due to strong demand’.

Leading port in rate of growth, not overall size, was Guangzhou, which in the first eight months had a throughput of 5.97 million TEUs, up 42.2%.
Ningbo came second in container cargo growth. It handled 6.11 million TEUs in the first eight months, up 36.2%.
Shanghai came in third in growth rate with throughput at 17.09 million TEUs, up 22.4%. This year it expects it will reach 25 million TEUs this year. The port has already overtaken Hong Kong in size.

In the first eight months China’s 23% growth rate was much lower than in previous years. General cargo throughput was up 15.7% in the eight-month period compared with 18.5%.

Wang Qingyun said, ‘We’re no longer looking for high-speed growth, instead we are going after moderate growth that is sustainable and ecologically healthy.’