CONTAINER throughput in China amounted to 48.6 million TEU last year, or nearly one-fifth of the world's total of 260 million TEU.

According to a spokesman for the mainland's Ministry of Communications, China's shipping volume last year was estimated to be 950 million tons, or around one-sixth of the world's total of 6.1 billion tons.

In 2002, China became the largest iron ore importing country.

In 2003, the volume of iron ore shipped globally amounted to 500 million tons. China imported 163 million tons last year - or around one-third of the total.

In addition, the amount of coal transported via ship was 600 million tons while China imported one-fifth or so of that figure, according to Xinhua.