this makes the port the first in the world to exceed such volume, said Mao Jianhong, chairman of Ningbo Zhoushan Port Group. The port deepened cooperation with major shipping companies and harbours along the Belt and Road, adding five sea routes to raise its total to 86. It also signed cooperation agreements with 20 other ports, said Mao.

Ningbo-Zhoushan port handled over 10 million standard containers from countries and regions along the Belt and Road this year, up 16 percent year on year, he added. The port also launched sea-rail transport services with 11 trains providing services to 36 cities in 14 provinces in China as well as countries in central and northern Asia and eastern Europe.

Container handling volume of its sea-rail transport is expected to surpass 400,000 standard containers this year, up 60 percent year on year. The Ningbo-Zhoushan port lies at the meeting point of the Silk Road Economic Belt and the 21st Century Maritime Silk Road. It is the busiest port in China with 242 sea routes linking more than 600 harbours around the world.