BEIJING - China's total port cargo throughput increased by 8.7 percent to 840 million tons year-on-year in November, the Ministry of Transport announced Tuesday.

The growth rate in November was 0.3 percentage points higher than that of October, marking the highest growth rate in the first 11 months, the ministry said in a statement posted on its website.

In the first 11 months, China's port throughput totaled 8.91 billion tons, up 6.9 percent from the same period last year, according to the statement.

The ministry attributed the growth mainly to a warm-up in foreign trade. In the first 11 months, China's foreign trade increased 5.8 percent year on year.

Shipments of bulk commodities, including coal and iron ore, witnessed steady increases in the first 11 months, while container transport jumped 9 percent year on year to hit 15.28 million TEU (twenty-foot equivalent unit).