The twenty-foot container equivalent units (TEU) throughput of Shanghai port surpassed 26 million in 2007, up more than 20% from the previous year, said an official from Shanghai Port and Shipping Bureau yesterday.

The figure boosted Shanghai port to rank the second in the world, surpassing Hong Kong port, whose TEU throughput was 23.88 million last year.

While in term of the total weight of the cargo, the throughput of Shanghai port ranked the first globally, which reached 560 million tons in 2007.

The latest statistics showed that in 2007, the TEU throughput of Waigaoqiao port soared to a new record to hit 15.6 million, accounting for 60% of the total throughput of Shanghai port.

The port's expansion in recent years and the prosperous export-oriented business in the Yangtze River Delta contributed to the surging throughput growth, the official said.

Currently, Shanghai port has 42 TEU piers with routes to more than 300 ports across the world.