HANGZHOU, Dec. 12 (Xinhua) -- Annual container throughput has hit a record-high of 25 million standard containers at Ningbo-Zhoushan Port in east China's Zhejiang Province, the port's operator said Tuesday.

As of November, the port's annual cargo throughput had exceeded 1 billion tonnes, up 7.4 percent year on year, according to Zhejiang Seaport Group, the operator.

From January to November, the port launched five new sea routes to raise its total to 247. Meanwhile, it has deepened cooperation with major international shipping alliances, including the 2M Alliance and the Ocean Alliance.

Strong growth has also been posted in the port's sea-rail transport services, which link the port by railway with other parts of China as well as countries in central and northern Asia and eastern Europe. The transport services handled 545,000 standard containers from January to November, a year-on-year increase of 49.36 percent.

Ningbo-Zhoushan Port lies at the meeting point of the Silk Road Economic Belt and the 21st Century Maritime Silk Road. Last year, it registered an annual cargo throughput of over 1 billion tonnes, the world's busiest.