In the first quarter of this year, iron ore imports at Jingtang Port in Tangshan in China's Hebei Province totaled 10.92 million mt, rising by 66 percent compared to the same period last year, as reported by Yanzhao Metropolis Daily. The import volume of iron ore at Jingtang Port in 2011 accounted for 48.05 percent of the port's total imports in the given year.
The surge of iron ore imports was mainly due to the commissioning of two 250,000 dwt berths for minerals at Jingtang Port, which have facilitated the docking of large ships.