Early statistics from the Ministry of Transport showed that cargo throughput in 17 of the country’s ports exceeded 100m tons in 2008. Apart from Shanghai, the Yangtze ports of Suzhou, Nanjing and Nantong were among them. Jiangyin port, one of the very few on the Yangtze owned by its employees, recorded an increase of 66.7 per cent to more than 500,000 teu in its container throughput in 2008, one of the biggest growth rates on the river.
Cargo throughput has slid drastically since September, following a sudden decrease in demand for coal, imported steel and export goods. Between January and August, cargo throughput rose by 15.2 per cent but the growth between September and December was only 5.2 per cent.