Statistics from the Yangtze River Administration show that throughput of general cargo along the Yangtze River trunkline rose by 12.3 per cent year-on-year in March to 120m tons, while container throughput reached 860,000 TEU, up by 23.7 per cent.

During the first three months of the year there was a total of 355m tons in throughput of general cargo, up by 16 per cent compared with the same period last year, while the throughput of containers increased nearly 30 per cent to 2.401m TEU.

During the first quarter, five major accidents took place, sinking four vessels and causing three fatalities, accounting for a direct loss of Rmb3m, slightly higher than the same period last year.