HUNAN province recorded a river cargo traffic of 81.1 million tonnes from January to June, 4.06 per cent more than a year ago, and an eight per cent higher turnover of 21.54 billion tonnes per kilometre, Xinhua reports.

In the same period, provincial ports' container throughput surged 43.9 per cent to 142,900 TEU, while overall tonnage grew three per cent to 89.88 million tonnes.

The province attributed the growth to two reason. One was the robust increase of container at the Yueyang Chenglingji port area. The port area recorded a foreign trade cargo throughput of 96,182 TEU, up 30 per cent year on year. Another reason was the favourable weather conditions and effective maintenance of the navigational channels.

Chenglingji port area's substantial growth was brought by the launch of a direct foreign trade shipping lane to Hong Kong and Macau in March.