NINGBO — China's busiest port, the Port of Ningbo Zhoushan in the eastern province of Zhejiang, saw its cargo throughput exceed 1.17 billion metric tons in 2020, ranking first in the world for a 12th consecutive year, according to the port.

The port's annual container throughput surpassed 28.7 million twenty-foot equivalent units (TEUs) last year, ranking third globally.

Both cargo and container throughputs registered year-on-year growth of over 4 percent, official statistics show.

The port's annual sea-rail transport container handling volume also saw robust growth, exceeding 1 million TEUs for the first time in 2020, up 24.2 percent over the previous year.

The port's sea-rail transport services link the port by rail with other parts of China and other countries. It currently has 19 railway routes linking cities in 15 provincial-level regions across China.

Despite COVID-19, the port saw year-on-year service increases of over 15 percent and over 30 percent in the first and second halves of 2020, respectively, contributing to businesses' work resumption as well as the recovery of logistics and industrial chains.