THE north Chinese port of Shandong posted a cargo throughput of 1.71 billion tonnes in 2023, an increase of 5.6 per cent year on year, making it the world's busiest cargo handling port.

Shandong also claimed the title of the world's second largest container port having last year formed a ports cluster with Qingdao Port as the leader and Rizhao Port and Yantai Port as the backbone. It also includes other facilities such as Weihai Port, Dongying Port, and Weifang Port, reports UK's Seatrade Maritime News.

Combined container volume at Shandong port was 41.32 million TEU in 2023, a 10.8 per cent year-on-year increase of, surpassing Singapore. In 2022 Qingdao was the world's fifth largest container port handling 25.7 million TEU.

Port revenue of Shandong was CNY155 billion (US$12.69 billion), up 12.9 per cent compared with the same period of the year before. The profit exceeded CNY10 billion for the first time mainly attributed by the improvements on operation efficiency.

In 2023, Shandong port saw some 32 new shipping services and added 81.87 million tonnes annual cargo handling capacity through port infrastructure investment and construction.

The port established new regional offices in Southeast Asia, Central Asia, Europe and Africa to support business expansion worldwide.