A freight train stops at a port area of Ningbo Zhoushan Port. [Photo/Ningbo Daily]

A total of 1.006 million twenty-foot equivalent units (TEUs) had been shipped via a sea-rail combined transport model at Ningbo Zhoushan Port as of Nov 3, a year-on-year increase of 22 percent, according to statistics from the Ningbo municipal bureau of transportation.

The amount was even more than last year's total.

The sea-rail combined transport model refers to the mechanism where goods are first loaded onto trains to Ningbo before being transported overseas by sea, and vice versa.

To date, the port has launched freight train routes to 61 prefecture cities in 16 provinces, municipalities, and autonomous regions across the nation.

The ports' measures like cementing ties with international shipping operators such as Maersk to ensure an ample supply of containers and launching customized services for big clients this year has played a major role in the robust growth.

In addition, it has opened a freight line connecting itself with Ningbo North Railway Station and has launched a special port area in Yiwu. Goods transported by rail lines to the port area in Yiwu can finish custom clearance procedures before being shipped overseas at Ningbo Zhoushan Port.

The port will strive to play a bigger role in bolstering the nation's "dual-circulation" development pattern, which sees the domestic market as the mainstay of the economy, with the domestic and international markets reinforcing each other.