This aerial photo taken on Dec 1, 2023 shows vessels passing through the five-tier ship locks of the Three Gorges Dam in Yichang, central China's Hubei province. (PHOTO / XINHUA)

BEIJING — China's cargo and container throughput at ports logged steady expansion during the first 10 months of this year, official data showed.

The country's cargo throughput at ports was 14 billion tonnes during January-October, up 8.5 percent year-on-year, according to the Ministry of Transport.

READ MORE: Container throughput at China's ports up 4.7% in 2022

Specifically, foreign trade cargo throughput at the ports rose 10 percent from the same period last year to 4.2 billion tonnes.

During the first 10 months, China's ports handled 257.03 million twenty-foot equivalent units (TEUs) of containers, 4.9 percent higher than a year earlier.