China's container handling capacity has reached 61.68 million TEU (Twentyfoot equivalent unit) last year, ranking first in the world, the Beijing-based Economic Information Daily said on Friday.

In 2004, around 350,000 international ships visited the country 's main ports, according to Vice Minister of Communications Xu Zuyuan.

Xu expects that by 2010, China's shipping volume could surge to 6.1 billion tons from 4 billion tons in 2004, and the container handling capacity could reach 140 million TEU.

China now has 1,430 ports and 34,000 berths, according to the vice minister.

Source: Xinhua