THE eastern Chinese port of Lianyungang recorded a 95.9 per cent increase in its throughput of cross-strait direct seaborne shipping freight to 652,000 tonnes in 2012, or 59,000 TEU in terms of container volume. 
The port handled 306 inbound and outbound vessels carrying such cargo last year, 91.3 per cent more than in 2011, according to Xinhua. 
As of January 15, Lianyungang has issued entry and exit permits for 902 vessels of Mainland-Taiwan direct shipping services since the first of such service was launched at the port. The cross-strait freight shipped from the port has amounted to 139,000 TEU, or 1.51 million tonnes. 
The mainland and Taiwan started direct shipping in December 2008. Jiangsu is one of the mainland provinces with the closest trade ties with Taiwan. Among the 12 ports in Jiangsu that are approved to operate direct shipping services, Lianyungang and Taicang are operating container services to Kaohsiung, Keelung and Taichung.