PORTS in Ningbo handled 9.3 million TEU in 2007, a strong growth of 32.2 per cent year on year, Xinhua reported.

The terminals in the southeast coastal city handled 23,562 vessels in the past year, up 19.2 per cent, the report said.

There are now 190 container services calling ports in Ningbo, including 101 trans-ocean services, 46 near-sea services, 19 feeder services and 24 domestic trade services, the report said.

Total cargo volume of Ningbo ports increased 11 per cent to 344 million tonnes, including 158 million tonnes of foreign trade cargo, the report said.

Ningbo was ahead of the ports of Guangzhou and Qingdao in both container throughput and cargo throughput. Guangzhou port handled 340 million tonnes and 9.14 million TEU and Qingdao port handled 260 million tonnes and 9.3 million TEU, the report added.