Cargo throughput at China's ports totalled 12.87 billion tonnes in the first 10 months of 2021, up 7.8 per cent year on year. During the period, container throughput reached 235 million TEU, expanding by 8.4 per cent from a year earlier.

China's foreign trade in the first 11 months of the year surged 22 per cent year on year to CNY35.39 trillion (US$5.56 trillion), customs data showed.

The figure, already surpassing the CNY32.16 trillion total for all of 2020, marked a 24 per cent increase from the pre-pandemic level in 2019.

Chairman of China's state-owned shipping giant China Cosco Shipping Corporation Limited (Cosco Shipping), Wan Min, said the company handled around 22.45 million TEU of containers in the first 10 months, representing year-on-year growth of 5.7 per cent.

Assistant general manager of the Shanghai branch of Singapore-based Pacific International Lines (PTE) Ltd, Liu Wen, said: "China's potent epidemic-containment efforts and fast resumption of work and production accelerated the growth of demand for cargo transportation, and brought about hope for global shipping companies."

Most of the company's vessels were dispatched to operate in the Chinese market, Mr Liu added.

Faced with the acute shortage of containers, government organisations and businesses adopted multiple measures to boost supply and ensure the smooth flow of goods to overcome the problem.

Under coordinated government actions led by the Ministry of Transport, shipping giant Cosco Shipping transported 13,469 empty containers back to domestic ports in March.

The supply of new containers has also been boosted by container manufacturers accelerating production. In September, the monthly container production capacity in China surged from 200,000 TEU to a record high of 500,000 TEU, official data showed.

The Xinhua report said the constant introduction of favourable policies also propelled China's foreign trade growth. The business environment has been optimised with a slew of reform measures including facilitating cross-border trade and promoting trade and investment in pilot free trade zones.

"The favourable policies in the Hainan free trade port, especially the value-added processing policy first implemented in the Yangpu free trade port area, have given us incredible business opportunities," said Zhang Hui, general manager of an international food company.