Jiangsu ports handled 1.5bn tonnes of cargo in 2010, according to provincial data, double the total in 2005. Its container throughput exceeded 11m TEU, Xinhua reported.

Jiangsu’s port throughput grew 20 per cent annually between 2006 and 2010 and it now has six ports with an annual throughput of more than 100m tonnes: Lianyungang, Nanjing, Suzhou, Nantong, Zhenjiang and Jiangyin.

Last year the port of Lianyungang recorded a container throughput of 3.9m TEU, while Taicang handled 2.2m TEU.