Cosco Pacific will increase service charges in the south and the Bohai Rim area as it bets on an upswing in the nation's economy.
The world's fifth-largest port operator, which owns stakes in 17 terminals from Dalian to Hong Kong and three overseas ports, forecasts domestic trade will recover more vigorously than global trade this year.
Clarksons, an international shipping consultant, predicts container trade worldwide will increase 5 per cent this year while on the mainland it will grow 8 per cent.
Although the mainland's export-import trade rose for the first time last year, up 10 per cent in November from a year earlier, the uncertainty in the recovery in the United States and Europe still clouds the upswing in global trade.
International trade is still more profitable than domestic trade.
The premium for international containers over domestic boxes is as much as 50 per cent in Dalian but shrinks to just 20 per cent in Shanghai.