This Day, That Year: Jan 8

Editor's note: This year marks the 70th anniversary of the founding of New China.

On Jan 8, 1968, the cargo vessel Dongfeng was officially completed and entered commercial operation. It was China's first self-designed and manufactured cargo ship, with a deadweight tonnage of more than 10,000 metric tons.

Requiring five years of research and construction, the vessel was 161 meters in length and 20 meters at the beam (its widest point).

After just a few decades of development, China's shipbuilding and container transportation sectors have reached international standards.

In September 1973, Tianjin Port successfully opened up the country's first international container shipping route, and established China's first container berth in 1980.

In 2002, China overtook the United States to become the world's top handler of containers.

China currently boasts seven of the top 10 ports in the world, based on cargo and container throughput. Shanghai Port is the world's busiest, with an annual handling capacity of more than 40 million TEUs (twenty-foot equivalent units) last year. The port started container transportation operations in 1978.

Containers have further connected China's central and western regions to the global market under a ports distribution strategy that combines coastal waters and inland rivers.

Last year, the COSCO Shipping Universe was delivered to China Ocean Shipping Co, aka COSCO, by China State Shipbuilding Corp in Shanghai. With a dead weight of 198,000 tons, the heaviest in the world, the ship can carry 21,237 TEUs of standard cargo.

Five more vessels of the same type are expected to be delivered to COSCO this year.