A view of Ningbo Zhoushan Port, the world's busiest port by cargo throughput volume, in East China's Zhejiang province. [Photo/WeChat account: zjhgwx]

Ningbo Zhoushan Port, the world's busiest port by cargo throughput volume, saw strong growth in container throughput in the first quarter of this year.

The port's container throughput reached 7.689 million twenty-foot equivalent units (TEUs) from January to March, a year-on-year increase of 25.1 percent.

The port has been playing an active role in bolstering the nation's "dual-circulation" development pattern, which sees the domestic market as the mainstay of the economy and the domestic and international markets reinforcing each other. It has increased the number of shipping routes to Southeast Asia, a major export destination for China, to 266. 

In addition, the port's operator has solved its container shortage problem created by the COVID-19 epidemic by rolling out preferential policies to draw more foreign shipping companies and enhancing port operation efficiency.

Efforts have also been made to tap business opportunities in inland cities and leverage the sea-rail combined transport model, which refers to a mechanism where goods are first loaded onto trains to Ningbo before being transported overseas by sea, and vice versa.

A total of 267,000 TEUs were shipped via this model at the port in Q1, a yearly uptick of 40.1 percent.

The Ningbo Zhoushan Port handled more than 1.17 billion tons of cargo in 2020, up by more than 4 percent year-on-year and topping the global charts for the 12th straight year.

The port's container throughput hit 28.72 million TEUs last year, up over 4 percent year-on-year and ranking third globally.