Tianjin port, the largest international port in north China, is expected to handle a record of 200 million tons of goods this year.

According to sources with the Tianjin port authorities, the port handled 171 million tons of goods in the first ten months this year, nine million more than the whole of 2003.

During the January-October period, the port also handled 3.15 million TEUs (twenty-foot equivalent units) of containers, a year-on-year increase of 25.29 percent, said the port authorities.

As an international business harbor, Tianjin port currently operates more than 70 regular shipping routes and has connections with more than 300 ports around the world.

The port has made record growth in its handling capacity in thepast decades, with its annual capacity surging from only 10 million tons in 1984 to 162 million tons in 2003.

To lure more overseas shipping carriers and meet challenges from the top three domestic container ports, including Shanghai, Shenzhen and Qingdao, the Tianjin port has set its goal for the next decade early this year.

Tianjin port aims to become a world-class container hub in northeastern Asia in the next decade, with an annual handling capacity of 300 million tons targeted for 2010, said port authorities.

By the year 2010, the port's container handling capacity will reach 10 million TEUs, with a 200,000-tons-class deep water sea-route established around the port.

To meet the goal, Tianjin has decided to increase investment to the port. With an annual input over 2 billion yuan (about 241.6 million US dollars), a total of 16 billion yuan (1.93 billion dollars) will be invested in the port in the coming six years.

Statistics show that in 2003, the number of containers handled in China reached 48 million TEUs, ranking the first around the world.

Source: Xinhua