Twenty-foot equivalent units are loaded in Taicang Port, Oct 31. [Photo/new.cn]

Taicang Port in East China's Jiangsu province, the largest container port along the Yangtze River, has improved its efficiency over the first three quarters of 2019.

From January to September, the port's cargo throughput amounted to 164.15 million tons, 56.74 million of which were imported or exported. The number of twenty-foot equivalent units (TEUs) handled by the port reached 3.86 million.

The port processed more than 5 million TEUs in 2018, up 12.4 percent from a year before. This puts the port at first place in the province and 10th place nationally in terms of number of TEUs processed.

Taicang Port is a major part of the Shanghai International Shipping Center and serves as a transport hub linking the Yangtze River with the ocean.

More than 80 shipping routes along the Yangtze River currently connect Taicang Port with 50 other ports throughout the economic belt, making the port a transit hub for domestic trade.

There are 25 near-sea shipping lines operating out of Taicang Port that connect to 23 ports in countries and regions along the 21st Century Maritime Silk Road.

The port is projected to raise its cargo throughput to 250 million tons and its container throughput to 6 million TEUs by the end of 2020, according to the local government.