A shipment of containers is loaded onto a cargo ship docking at a terminal in Huzhou Port's Deqing port area. [Photo/Tide News]

Huzhou Port in Huzhou, Zhejiang province, has achieved a significant milestone by exceeding an annual container throughput of 1 million twenty-foot equivalent units for the first time, becoming the first inland port in the province to achieve the feat.

The milestone was reached at 10 am on Dec 29, when a shipment of containers was loaded onto the cargo ship Zhegang Neihe 010 docking at a terminal in Huzhou Port's Deqing port area.

According to Pan Fengfeng, a representative of Zhejiang Seaport Deqing Port Affairs, the Deqing port area's terminals handled over 180,000 TEUs this year.

Efficiency is evident across Huzhou Port, where gantry cranes operate continuously. Local products such as office chairs and outdoor furniture are shipped globally via major inland routes connecting to Shanghai Port and Ningbo-Zhoushan Port.

In 2010, Huzhou Port's annual throughput was less than 1,000 TEUs. Over 15 years, it has maintained a remarkable average annual growth rate of 37 percent, leading the province in inland container throughput and ranking among the top nationally.

Hu Linjian, director of port development at Huzhou's port and shipping management center, credits this growth to robust water transport infrastructure.

Huzhou's waterway network, featuring eight trunks and 10 branches, effectively covers other areas in Zhejiang, Anhui, and Jiangsu provinces, with expanded waterway networks facilitating efficient transport.