A ceremony to celebrate Shandong Port Group Co Ltd's annual cargo throughput exceeding 1.5 billion metric tons is held on Dec 23 in Qingdao, Shandong province. [Photo provided to chinadaily.com.cn]

Shandong Port Group Co Ltd, located in Qingdao, Shandong province, announced on Dec 23 that its cargo throughput increased 5.8 percent year-on-year to over 1.5 billion metric tons, ranking first in the world.

The group's container throughput grew 8.1 percent year-on-year to more than 34 million TEUs (twenty-foot equivalent units) as of Dec 23, ranking third worldwide.

Li Fengli, general manager of Shandong Port Group, said the group's revenue is likely to surpass 80 billion yuan ($12.56 billion) this year.

"Shandong Port Group has stepped up efforts developing new routes and ports to ensure a stable supply chain and actively sought transformation to an innovation-driven company," Li said.

This year, the group opened 34 routes for ship containers, among which were 25 designed for international trade. Cumulative shipping routes also reached 317, according to the group.

It also built 26 inland ports, developed 72 sea-rail combined transport routes and saw more than 2.5 million TEUs of container throughput by sea-rail combined transport this year.

The group is also on a fast track to high-quality development through developing supply chain finance, modern logistics and 10 other emerging sectors. In the past two years, its emerging sectors saw revenue and profit growth of 92 and 11 percent, respectively.