Containers at Ningbo Zhoushan Port in East China's Zhejiang province. [Photo/Ningbo Daily]

The world's largest port by cargo throughput volume, Ningbo Zhoushan Port in East China's Zhejiang province handled nearly 26.32 million TEUs in the first nine months of this year, rising 9.8 percent year-on-year, official data show.

From January to September, the port launched 14 container routes, bringing the total number of such routes to 301.

Earlier July, Ever Alot, the world's largest container ship, had berthed at the Meishan port area of Ningbo Zhoushan Port earlier this year.

The port's operator has been continuously expanding its business domestically by leveraging the sea-rail combined transport mode, which refers to the mechanism where goods are first loaded onto trains to Ningbo before being transported overseas by sea, and vice versa.

Over the past nine months, the port has launched freight routes to Xuancheng in East China's Anhui province and Macheng in Central China's Hubei province, bringing the total number of such rail routes to 22. The port services cover 62 prefecture-level cities across China.

In the first three quarters of this year, over 1.12 million containers were transported via the sea-rail combined transport mode at the port, up 27.1 percent year-on-year.

In addition, the port's operation efficiency has been improved by digitalization efforts. Presently, nearly 50 percent of facilities at the port are fully automated.