Latest statistics from the Yangtze River Administration show that throughput of foreign trade-related cargo jumped by 18.1 per cent year-on-year in May to 19.8m tons, bringing the total to 92.3m tons for the first five months of 2012, an increase of 17.7 per cent over the same period last year.

In May, container throughput rose by 8.5 per cent to 1.05m TEU, while throughput of general cargo was up 6.1 per cent to 144m tons. For the first five months, container throughput rose by 8.7 per cent to 4.61m TEU, while throughput of general cargo increased by 7.1 per cent to 683m tons.