Photo taken on June 22, 2021 shows containers piled up at the Ningbo-Zhoushan Port in East China's Zhejiang province. [Photo/CFP]

The latest data from Zhejiang Seaport Group revealed the container throughput at Ningbo-Zhoushan Port in East China's Zhejiang province had reached 20 million twenty-foot equivalent units (TEUs) this year as of 9 am Sunday, the first time the target has been met in August.

In previous years, the port usually needed nine months to handle such an amount of TEUs.

The overall operations of Ningbo-Zhoushan Port remain stable, with a slew of prompt and effective measures after a worker in its Meishan Port area had a positive result for COVID-19 in routine nucleic acid testing on Aug 11.

The worker has now been sent to a designated hospital for further medical treatment. His close contacts have all been quarantined. The relevant venues have been required to cease operation for disinfection.

Ningbo-Zhoushan Port announced to suspend all container services and ship operations in Meishan Port area on Aug 11. It has been working to rearrange the departure and arrival schedules of vessels to minimize the negative impact of the temporary closure of the Meishan Port area. The other areas of Ningbo-Zhoushan Port are currently operated in a normal and orderly manner.

Data showed Ningbo-Zhoushan Port handled a daily average of 75,000 TEUs on Aug 11, 12 and 13, almost 90 percent of the daily container throughput in July.

The stable operations of international shipments are vital to foreign trade, especially under the circumstances that COVID-19 continues to wreak havoc across the globe.

Now, foreign trade businesses are facing difficulties caused by the shortage of empty containers, the low efficiency of loading and uploading containers at some ports, and increasing prices for international shipments.

Ningbo-Zhoushan Port, which has topped the world's annual cargo throughput for 12 years in a row, has been making every endeavor to ensure smooth shipments of cargo and goods between China and the outside world since the novel coronavirus broke out.

A port official said that the prevention and control of the virus spread is now the key task, noting they'll continue with strict implementation of preventive and control measures and work out a sound plan for the resumption of the Meishan Port area. In addition, multiple measures will be taken for an unimpeded freight chain, making sure cargo and goods come in and go out smoothly, according to the official.