TIANJIN -- Tianjin Port, the largest port in northern China, recorded a recovery in volume of freight handled in March, the municipal communications commission said on Friday.

Last month, the port handled 31.9 million tonnes of cargo, up 4.3 percent over the same month of last year. Container transport totaled 730,000 TEUs (twenty-foot equivalent units), up 5.5 percent.

As the international financial crisis is still going on, Tianjin Port accommodated 4,831 inbound ships in the first quarter, down 16.5 percent from the same period of last year, and 4,822 outbound vessels, down 16.2 percent.

The port's volume of freight handled for the first quarter declined 2 percent year-on-year to 85.03 million tonnes. But thanks to March recovery, the decline was 3.5 percentage points less than the January-February level.

The cargo handled in January was 28.28 million tonnes and 24.84 million tonnes in February, both below the year-earlier level.

As the third largest port in China and the fifth in the world, Tianjin handled 356 million tonnes of cargo in 2008.