CONTAINER throughput at mainland China ports grew 3.3 per cent to 17 million TEU in July compared to the same month last year.

Marine ports handled 15.3 million TEU, up 4.4 per cent from last July, while inland ports handled 1.7 million TEU, down 4.8 per cent year on year.

In July, the main marine ports were Shanghai, which handled three million TEU, up 2.3 per cent year on year, Shenzhen 2.1 million TEU (+0.4 per cent), Ningbo-Zhoushan 1.7 million TEU (+5.7 per cent), Guangzhou 1.4 million TEU (+3.8 per cent) and Qingdao 1.4 million TEU (+5.7 per cent).

In the first seven months of this year mainland ports handled a total of 113.9 million TEU, an increase of 5.3 per cent over the same period last year, reported Genoa's Informare.

Within this total, marine ports handled between January and July 102.5 million TEU, a rise of 6.5 per cent year on year.

Box throughput at inland ports totalled 11.3 million TEU, a decrease of 4.3 per cent compared to the first seven months of 2013.

The top two marine ports in the first seven months of the year were Shanghai with 20.3 million TEU, up 5.2 per cent, while Shenzhen's throughput declined 0.7 per cent to 13.1 million TEU.