Tianjin Port, the largest port in northern China, recorded a recovery in volume of freight handled in March according to the municipal communications commission.
Last month, the port handled 31.9 million tonnes of cargo, up 4.3% over the same month of last year. Container transport totaled 730,000 TEUs (twenty-foot equivalent units), up 5.5%.
As the international financial crisis is still going on, Tianjin Port accommodated 4,831 inbound ships in the first quarter, down 16.5% from the same period of last year, and 4,822 outbound vessels, down 16.2%.
China.com reported that the port’s volume of freight handled for the first quarter declined 2% year-on-year to 85.03 million tonnes. But thanks to March recovery, the decline was 3.5 percentage points less than the January-February level.
The cargo handled in January was 28.28 million tonnes and 24.84 million tonnes in February, both below the year-earlier level.
As the third largest port in China and the fifth in the world, Tianjin handled 356 million tonnes of cargo in 2008.