SHANGHAI, Oct. 15 (Xinhua) -- As of September, China's maritime fleet has seen its capacity grow to 430 million deadweight tonnes, accounting for 18.7 percent of the world's total, according to a press conference held Tuesday in Shanghai.

From January to August this year, the country's cargo throughput at ports exceeded 11.5 billion tonnes, up 3.7 percent year on year, and its container throughput at ports reached 220 million twenty-foot equivalent units (TEUs), up 8.2 percent year on year.

During the period, the volume of China's rail-water intermodal transport through ports notched up 7.78 million TEUs of containers, up 17.7 percent year on year, according to the press conference on the upcoming 2024 North Bund Forum, an international shipping conference.

A total of 49 automated port terminals have been constructed nationwide, marking a continued leading global position, said Gao Haiyun, an official from the water transport bureau under the Ministry of Transport, during the press conference.

Shanghai is accelerating the construction of an international shipping hub. In the first three quarters of this year, the Shanghai port alone handled a container throughput of more than 39 million TEUs, up 8 percent year on year.

Scheduled from Oct. 22 to 24 in Shanghai, the 2024 North Bund Forum is co-hosted by the Ministry of Transport and the Shanghai municipal government. This year's edition is expected to focus on the digital, intelligent and green development of global shipping services.