China to play major role in world's marine transport: official

An official with the Ministry of Communications said Thursday China will play an important role in the world's marine transport market.

Zhang Guofa, vice director of the ministry's water transport department, said China would offer great business opportunities to the world's marine transport market during the process of industrialization.

The global marine transport volume was 6.1 billion tons last year, when Chinese ports handled 950 million tons of import and export goods.

China's containerized traffic volume maintained an annual growth rate of over 25 percent for 18 consecutive years. In 2003, Chinese ports handled 48.6 million twenty-foot-equivalent units, accounting for nearly one fifth of the world's total.

Source: Xinhua