Year-on-year growth of Zhuhai Port Holdings Group ship container and cargo throughput exceeded 47.56 percent and 36.22 percent respectively last year, leading mega ports in growth nationwide, according to a survey just released by the China Ports & Harbors Association.

Some 2.3 million TEUs and 123 million tons of cargo were handled, ranking 14th and 15th among 39 major ports in the country.

State-owned Zhuhai Port Holdings Group is the largest port construction company on the west bank of the Pearl River Delta. The enterprise's total assets climbed to 22.7 billion yuan ($3.6 billion) in 2017, driven by ever-increasing main business income which amounted to 4.2 billion yuan ($657 million).

Zhuhai Port Holdings Group container wharf [Photo courtesy Zhuhai Daily]

The evaluation indicia on the list showed 39 major port enterprises across the country had a combined container throughput of 161 million TEUs, up 8.85 percent, and cargo volume of 6.4 billion tons, a year-on-year rise of 7.54 percent.

Zhuhai Port has a range of development strategies for going global that include relying on the Xijiang River, establishing a logistics center, and being "smart" and green. One of its current key tasks is constructing the Guizhou (Changming) International Land Port Phase I, to be undertaken with expansion of land-sea combined logistics channels and development of container liner shipping routes.

The company intends to join the world's top 50 ports by 2021.