Ports in China's Zhejiang province together handled 2.18 million TEU in the first quarter of the year, an increase of 52.5 per cent year on year, reports Xinhua.

Statistics from the Zhejiang port authority show that the total volume of cargo rose by 5.8 per cent during the reporting period to 185.92 million tons, including 128 million tons of cargo handled by coastal ports, while 58 million tons of freight passed through Zhejiang's river ports.

Within this total, foreign trade grew by 8.7 per cent over the same period last year to nearly 50 million tons of cargo.

Cargo transported by waterways and sea routes in the province rose 19.8 per cent to 113 million tons.

In March, the total volume of cargo handled by Zhejiang ports rose by 1.3 per cent compared to the same month a year ago to 63 million tons, with coastal ports handling 42.6 million tons of cargo, the remaining 20.4 million tons of cargo passed through its river ports. The volume of containers handled rose by 33.4 per cent over March 2005 to 739,000 TEU last month.