A record of more than 41 million tons of cargo has been handled at ports in Shenzhen, in south China's Guangdong Province, from January to November this year, a big rise from around 34 million tons in the same period last year.

Shenzhen's cargo totals have hovered around in the past five years.

The city has reported its most brisk business in container cargo, with the total amount hitting 1.95 million TEUs in 1998 and growing by over 50 percent this year.

Ten percent of Guangdong Province's cargo from ocean shipping is loaded at ports in Shenzhen. The China Ocean Shipping Corp. Has launched two new international shipping routes in the second half of this year, at Ciwan and Yantian ports in the city.

Yantian port is the first port in China capable of handling one million TEUs containers annually.

Meanwhile, the port of Xiamen, in neighboring Fujian Province, dealt with 769,600 TEUs of containers during the first 11 months this year, and the figure is expected to top 800,000 TEUs for the entire year.