China Merchants Holdings (International) Co, the owner of stakes in ports that move a third of the country's cargo containers, said volume this year may surpass 2008's record.

Shipments at China Merchants' mainland ports rose 22 percent in the first fourth months, Deputy Managing Director Hu Jianhua said.

"We still haven't returned to 2008 levels," Liu Yunshu, deputy managing director, told reporters in Hong Kong today as the company held its annual shareholders' meeting. "We hope we can surpass it this year."

China Merchants today reiterated its forecast for container volume to grow between 10 and 15 percent in 2010, as global trade rebounds. An increase of 15 percent in volume would surpass the 50.6 million twenty-foot container boxes shipped by the company in 2008, Deputy General Manager Cynthia Wong said.

Group container volume decreased 13 percent in 2009 to 43.9 million boxes as rising unemployment meant US and European consumers pared purchases of Asian-made goods.

The number of twenty-foot equivalent units moving through the company's ports in China, including Shanghai, Shenzhen and Tianjin, dropped 13 percent, to 38.1 million boxes.

Ore imports

Dry bulk volume rose more than 30 percent in the first four months as China imported more iron ore, Hu said. The port company is expecting double-digit dry bulk growth in the second half, he added.

China Merchants and a partner last year submitted the only bid to run a new container terminal in Colombo, Sri Lanka. Talks were due to begin in March, Sri Lanka Ports Authority Chairman Priyath Wickrama said on March 8.

"Talks are still on because existing ports are fully utilized at the moment," Hu said. "Still, the deal hasn't been finalized yet."

State-controlled China Merchants Group owns 55.6 percent of the Hong Kong-based ports company.