The Liberian container ship PETROHUE loads nearly 500 TEUs of containers during its dock at the Dongdu port area of Xiamen port on May 21. [Photo/xmtv.cn]

The Liberian container ship PETROHUE docked at the Dongdu port area of Xiamen port on May 21. It was the 500th ship to travel along a Silk Road Maritime route and dock at Xiamen port since the project was launched on Dec 24 last year.

The PETROHUE regularly operates along the China-Middle East route, passing through important ports along the routes of the Belt and Road Initiative, such as Sohar in Oman, Kelang in Malaysia and Singapore.

"I was impressed by the modern port facilities at Xiamen port. The pilots were professional and stevedores were hard-working. Everything was great," said Sawicki Andrzej, captain of PETROHUE.

Statistics show that by May 20 this year, the 34 named shipping routes of the Silk Road Maritime project had handled 385,000 TEUs of containers, a year-on-year increase of 10.18 percent.