Yantian International Container Terminal (YICT), southern China's leading container port, is expanding capacity to meet growing cargo traffic demand.

YICT spokesman Helen Du Hui Min said the development would add four new berths by mid-2006, with a total annual capacity of two million TEUs.

YICT will place large orders for materials handling equipment. "While it has not yet decided what specific equipment and how many to purchase, YICT will acquire all the equipment through its strict bidding procedure," Ms Du Hui Min said.

YICT is in the Shenzhen Special Economic Zone, three kilometres from Hong Kong. The world-class port opened in 1994, and has five 50,000-tonne capacity container berths and annual handling capacity of two million TEUs.

The port has 18 quay cranes, 45 rubber-tyred gantries, and total yard stacking capacity of 64,000 TEUs.