A recent market survey conducted by the Standard Pool Company shows that China is now the world's second biggest shipping country, handling 10 million standard containers annually.

Experts said that the shipping industry has registered a dramatic increase over the past decade, of which the growth rate exceeded that of the global gross domestic product (GDP). Being a major Asian trader, China has benefited from the rapid development of shipping and has greatly improved its container ports.

China has three ports, which are in Shanghai, Guangzhou and Ningbo, whose annual handling capacity reaches 100 million tons each.

The other main container ports, such as Shenzhen, Dalian and Tianjin, also saw substantial development in the past ten years.

International maritime researchers predicted that the handling capacity of China's container ports will be the highest in Asia in the next 15 years.

Statistics indicate that the world handled 210 million standard containers in 1999, 94 million were in Asia, accounting for 45 percent.

(Xinhua 11/21/2000)