Cargo throughput ekes out small rise

By Ding Yining  |   2009-8-26  |     NEWSPAPER EDITION

CARGO throughput increased 3.5 percent year on year in the first seven months as the global economy showed signs of a recovery, China's Ministry of Transport said yesterday.

Ports handled a total of 3.88 billion tons of cargo in the first seven months, according to the ministry's announcement on its Website. First-half growth was 2.6 percent year on year.

Container throughput reached 66.7 million twenty-foot equivalent units by the end of July, down 9.9 percent from a year ago. The figure for the first half was 52.4 million TEUs, down 10.9 percent on year.

Throughput in July was 10.6 million TEUs, down 5.7 percent on year, the smallest drop since the beginning of this year. But throughput rose 5.3 percent quarter on quarter.

Dry bulk goods for import and export totaled 1.2 billion tons at the end of July, up 1.9 percent from a year ago.

"Foreign trade will continue to improve and cargo throughput is likely to achieve a month-over-month increase in November or December," Guosen Securities wrote in a research note.

Chinese ports may complete throughput of dry bulk cargo of 6.48 billion tons this year, up 4 percent from last year, He Jianzhong, spokesman for the Ministry of Transport, said in late July.