China's ports are expected to handle 100 million standard containers by 2010 and the capacity will even double by 2020, according to a plan set by the Ministry of Communications.

An official with the ministry told Xinhua Monday that the plan was mapped out in line with the country's foreign trade development.

China aims to fulfill a total import and export turnover of 1 trillion US dollars in 2010 and the goal is set at 2 trillion US dollars in 2020. Foreign trade valued at every 100 million US dollars usually involves transportation of 8,000 to 9,000 containers.

Statistics show that the port handling capacity in China already amounted to 48 million containers last year, 30.9 percent higher than that of the previous year, making the country surpass the United States to rank first in the world.

Shanghai port and Shenzhen port both handled over 10 million containers in 2003, ranking, respectively, in third and fourth place among all the global ports.

Meanwhile, the country's total container transport volume has accounted for 19.4 percent of the world's whole.

During the rapid and stable development of China's economy and foreign trade, coastal ports act as windows for the nation to join in the economic globalization trend, the ministry official said, adding that the container transport has become an important modernized transport form due to its superiority in efficiency, convenience and security.

"The development of container transport is also a sort of a barometer of the country's foreign trade and economic progress," the official said.

China reported a total foreign trade volume of 851.2 billion US dollars last year, 37.1 percent more than the previous year, which created the fastest growth rate since 1980.