China - Recent Storyline: Shanghai Port becomes world's first to reach 50 million TEUs in annual throughput [Voice_over] Shanghai Port has marked another milestone, becoming the world's first port to manage 50 million 20-foot equivalent units or TEUs annually. The port operates nearly 350 international shipping routes covering over 700 ports in more than 200 countries and regions worldwide. One of the port's deputy general managers says the growth in container throughput was driven by the rise in export-laden containers. [Voice_over] Yang Yanbin, Deputy general manager, production and business department, Shanghai International Port: "Firstly, the rising container throughput resulted from the continued growth of the domestic economy and trade. In the first 11 months of this year, the volume of loaded export containers handled at Shanghai Port increased by 6.4 percent year on year. As to the domestic demand, our Luodong Container Terminal officially opened this year. Its geographical advantages will help us attract more domestic traders here for transshipment operations." [Voice_over] In recent years, Shanghai Port has been committed to streamlining logistics channels by strengthening cooperation with other ports along the Yangtze River Economic Belt, especially for ship-to-ship transshipments. The method entails moving goods from one ship to another to complete the final leg of a journey, which according to the port's chairman, has been helping reduce the region's traffic congestion. [Voice_over] Gu Jinshan, Chairman, Shanghai International Port (Group) Co., Ltd. "At Shanghai Port, the ship-to-ship transshipment ratio of containers has reached 61.8 percent. Yangshan Port, in particular, has further reduced road transportation by replacing container trucks largely with waterway transport." [Voice_over] From January to November this year, Shanghai Port workers handled 28.98 million TEUs in ship-to-ship transshipments, setting yet another record for the port. [Restrictions : No access Chinese mainland]