Zhoushan Port in East China's Zhejiang province. [Photo/WeChat account: china-zjftz] 

Zhoushan Port in East China's Zhejiang province had handled 60.63 million metric tons of cargo in January, an uptick of 16.75 percent year-on-year, a record high, official statistics show. 

Specifically, the oil and gas throughput was 13.89 million tons, a year-on-year increase of 3.83 percent, while the metal ores and container throughput was 19.43 million tons and 253,800 TEUs, up 21.38 percent and 56.94 percent respectively. 

One of the major reasons behind the increase is the implementation of incentive measures by authorities to keep the port operational during the Spring Festival. 

For example, a 400,000-ton ship arrived at the Shulanghu terminal on Jan 29, and the 2.3-billion-yuan ($336.9 million) oil products storage and transportation facility was put into operation on Feb 7. To date, the city's 118 port enterprises have resumed operations. 

Meanwhile, Zhoushan's port enterprises have been making efforts to improve operational efficiency. The green petrochemical base handled 2.98 million tons of oil products, chemical products and plastic particles in January, up 5 percent year-on-year. A total of 1.19 million tons of feed coal and steam coal were also unloaded at the port, a year-on-year increase of 92.7 percent. 

In addition, two shipping routes to Russia were launched in January, and this led to 93 foreign trade vessels with a combined container throughput of 192,800 TEUs unloaded at the port, a year-on-year increase of 58.9 percent. 

The port now has 31 international container shipping routes.