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

As of 6:00 pm on Nov 13, Ningbo Zhoushan Port in East China's Zhejiang province had handled 30.07 million TEUs this year, an 8.4 percent year-on-year increase, according to official data.

The 30-million-TEU feat was achieved 33 days earlier than the previous year, an indication of the port's robust growth momentum in business volume despite the COVID-19 epidemic.

The port, which is the world's largest port by cargo throughput volume, launched 14 new container routes this year. There are now 301 routes that stem from it.

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.

The service provided by the port under this mechanism now covers 63 prefecture-level cities in 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. Presently, nearly 50 percent of facilities at the port are fully automated.

This year, 270 container ships that have a capacity of 20,000 TEUs or more have berthed at the port.