WENZHOU, a river port city and a manufacturing base in eastern China's Zhejiang province, handled 258,800 TEU from January to June this year, 16.23 per cent more than in the same period in 2012.

In this period, the port's throughput tonnage grew 7.99 per cent to 37.06 million tonnes, Xinhua reports.

In the first half of year, Wenzhou posted a domestic trade container volume growth of 21.31 per cent, much faster than its foreign trade container volume of 1.98 per cent.

Wenzhou started river container transshipment service for cargo moving between seaports and hinterland regions along the Yangtze River. The port is now operating a total of 17 domestic trade lanes.

During the same period, Wenzhou's container shipping services to Taiwan brought 6,616 TEU to the port. As container throughput continues to rise, Wenzhou increased the service frequency in March from one sailing to two per week.

Wenzhou port said its throughput has been rising steadily this year thanks to the ongoing infrastructure projects in the city that stimulate demand for transport of cement and construction materials. On the other hand, a sharp increase of 118.52 per cent of metal ore throughput at the port's Zhuangyuanao port area also contributed to the rise of Wenzhou's throughput total.