Chinese Ministry of Communications said China's container handling capacity is expected to jump to 75 million TEU (twentyfoot equivalent unit) this year, still ranking first in the world.

Vice Minister Huang Xianyao said at a national port conference held in Shenzhen Monday that the country's port container throughput will realize a record increase of more than 20 percent this year, compared with that of last year.

According to Huang, the Shanghai Port will handle most of 18 million TEU containers this year, and the port's total throughput is to hit 460 million tons, which will exceed the Singapore Port to be the world's largest.

Besides Shanghai, another two major ports in China, Shenzhen and Qingdao, are expected to handle 14 million TEU and 6.5 million TEU this year, respectively.

China now has 1,430 ports and 34,000 berths, with a fleet of about 210,000 vessels shipping on the sea, capable of handling more than 86 million tons of cargo.

China has already signed bilateral shipping contracts with more than 60 countries and regions in the world, according to the ministry. In 2004, the country's container handling capacity reached 61.68 million TEU.

(Xinhua News Agency December 7, 2005)