The annual cargo throughput of China’s busiest port, the Port of Ningbo Zhoushan in the eastern province of Zhejiang, reached a record high of 1.2 billion tonnes in 2021, up 4.4 percent year on year, the provincial port and navigation management center said Friday.
The port has held the world’s highest cargo throughput record for 13 consecutive years, while its container throughput surpassed 31 million twenty-foot equivalent units (TEUs) in 2021, ranking third globally, an 8.2 percent year-on-year increase.
By the end of 2021, the sea routes of the port totaled 287, with an increase of 27 routes from the end of 2020.
The half-year health check on the state of the maritime markets finds shipowners in a better place than they anticipated 12 months ago. While tankers will have to wait for a meaningful vaccine-led recovery, box and bulk are booming.
The European Union, China and the United States play the largest role in international trade, in terms of supplying products and as markets, and their trade relations largely determine the configuration of cargo flows in the international transport system.
