A bird's eye view of the busy Taicang Port in Suzhou, East China's Jiangsu province [Photo provided to chinadaily.com.cn]

A greater number of containers were handled at Taicang Port in East China's Jiangsu province, neighboring Shanghai, constantly reinforcing the port's leading position in foreign trade along the Yangtze River.

Statistics from the port show a throughput of 2.57 million twenty-foot equivalent units (TEUs) in the first half of 2019, up 5 percent year-on-year, ranking first among all the ports in the province.

The volume of foreign trade cargos amassed to 110.54 million tons, up 3.5 percent year-on-year.

Despite some downside pressure and economic headwinds from the global market, Taicang Port managed to keep its momentum thanks to following a series of measures and policies.

The port added domestic shipping lines and international air routes, integrated and improved river-sea transportation systems, and upgraded logistics service for vessels berthing in Taicang.

"We are expecting to create more momentum by providing better services to the local economy and to the ship owners and shippers," said Li Ping, a spokesman for the Taicang Port Economic and Technological Development Zone.

Currently, more than 80 shipping routes along the Yangtze River are connected to Taicang Port with 50 ports in the economic belt, making it a transit hub for domestic trade.

There are 25 near-sea shipping lines operating out of Taicang Port and connect to 23 ports in the countries and regions along the 21st Century Maritime Silk Road.

The first half records the berthing of 1,526 international vessels, 328 of which were from the Belt and Road countries, up 6 percent year-on-year.