BEIJING, Oct. 6 (Xinhua) -- Qingdao in east China's Shandong Province, the second largest external trade port of the country, achieved a freight turnover of more than 200 million tons from Jan. 1 to Sept. 30, surpassing the annual volume for 2005, a communication ministry source has said.

    According to a senior official with the water transport department of the Ministry of Communications, the port's container turnover amounted to 7 million TEUs (twenty foot equivalent unit) in the period, also exceeding the annual volume for 2005.

    The total turnover included 56.49 million tons of iron ores, continuing to rank the first worldwide, and 33.11 million tons of petroleum, the first nationwide.

    The port plans to realize a total freight turnover of 260 million tons and a container turnover of 9 million tons for the whole of 2007, said Chang Dechuan, president of Qingdao Port Group.