Railway freight lines connecting China with Europe via land ports in the northeastern region have moved 151,000 standard-sized shipping containers in the first quarter, a year-on-year increase of 6.9 percent — a record high — China Railway Harbin Group said on Monday.

The group recorded 1,443 inbound and outbound trips in the first quarter of this year — a year-on-year increase of 7.6 percent.

The trains pass through Manzhouli Port in the Inner Mongolia autonomous region and through Suifenhe Port and Tongjiang Port in Heilongjiang province. The number of return freight trains through the same ports in the first quarter ranked first in China.

Since the beginning of the year, the routes have grown substantially. The monthly average volume through Tongjiang Port, for example, increased by 166.7 percent year-on-year.