By Thursday, harbors along the province's booming coast had handled 200.1 million tons of cargo, according to Zhou Qiutian who takes charge of the province's transportation.

The total included an all-time high of 109.73 million tons in foreign trade, surpassing the whole amount in 2001.

The harbors' combined container turnover amounted to a record 3.387 million TEUs for the same period, also exceeding last year's total, Zhou said.

Qingdao Harbor, the biggest one in the province, handled more than 50 percent of the total cargo turnover.

Shandong's coastline of more than 3,000 km has 26 harbors, including 17 open to international trade.

(Xinhua News Agency November 30, 2002)