Guangxi Zhuang autonomous region recorded a 130 per cent growth in port throughput to 107m tonnes in the first half of 2011, Xinhua reported. Out of this total, inland river ports handled 37.39m tonnes, up 128 per cent year-on-year.

Last month Guangxi said it aimed to increase the throughput of its river ports to 150m tonnes by 2015, according to local government sources.

Meanwhile China’s largest port, Shanghai, lifted 15.3m TEU during the first six months of 2011, a year-on-year increase of 10.5 per cent, Xinhua reported. Inbound containers increased 9.8 per cent to 7.5m TEU, while the outbound total was up 11.2 per cent to 7.8m TEU.

Sea-river intermodal boxes increased 19.3 per cent to 6.4m TEU, accounting for 42 per cent of the total.