China Box Traffic Hits All Time High

Container traffic at Chinese ports reached an all time high in the first quarter of the year, driven by a strong rebound in the nation's foreign trade.

Total throughput surged 22.1 percent to 31.87 million 20-foot equivalent units from 25.48 million TEUs in the first three months of 2009, according to Paris-based analyst Alphaliner.

Traffic is also significantly higher than the 29.02 million TEUs handled in the first quarter of 2008, the year when container volume peaked.

All major ports increased their first quarter container traffic, driven by a strong recovery in March following the lunar New Year holiday in February, Alphaliner said.

The largest gains were in the southern ports of Shenzhen, Guangzhou and Xiamen where volumes are back to 2008 levels after declining through 2009.

The smaller ports of Lianyungang and Yingkou in northern China also handled record volumes in the first quarter.

Contact Bruce Barnard at brucebarnard47@hotmail.com.