The handling capacity of Chinese ports will grow 18 percent to 5.5 billion tons by the end of this year, said Minister of Communications Xu Zuyuan on Wednesday.

These ports are expected to handle 94 million TEUs (twenty-foot equivalent units) this year, up 24 percent over 2005, said the minister at a national navigation industry meeting held in Tianjin, the largest port in north China.

By the end of 2006, the minister said, China will have invested 60 billion yuan in building 166 new port projects. With completion of these projects, the country's seaports handling capacity will be increased by 548 million tons to reach 3.44 billion tons.

Investment in inland river ports will reach 22 billion yuan, which were used to build 165 new berths with an additional handling capacity of 19.5 million tons, Xu said.

At the end of the year, China's investment in coastal harbor construction will reach 60 billion yuan (7.5 billion U.S. dollars), accounting for 45 percent of the total investment in the country's 10th five-year plan period (2000-2005).

Over the next five years, China will increase investment in infrastructure construction of waterway transportation, Xu said.

The construction will focus on building specialized ports for handling coal, oil, ore and container in inland waterway transportation.

By 2010, the minister said, China will further upgrade the handling capacity of coastal harbors by 2.1 billion tons.

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