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China’s port operators
Hope is now being pinned on Chi-
na’s massive stimulus package, which is
being put in place at high speed as the
brace for bleak year…
government responds to the crisis of 20M
unemployed migrant workers. But Cosco
Research executive deputy director
Simon Young said there is no sign yet any
China’s container port operators are pre- the most difficult year in a generation.”
recovery in the container trades.
paring for a bleak year as the full impact However, he said there is reason for
As trading conditions worsen, ports are
of collapsing consumer demand across the optimism because there was an increase in
also having to contend with the problem
world hits Asian exporters. exports of loaded boxes at the end of Feb-
of empty containers piling up, said Vin-
After years of sensational growth, ruary as manufacturing started to pick up.
cent Li, general manager of Modern Ter-
China’s container ports will be lucky to Dr Fu attributed the increase to the draw-
minals, Hong Kong’s second-largest ter-
see any net throughput increase in 2009, ing down of inventories in China’s main
minal operator. “They are stuck in our
some industry observers say. export markets in Europe and the US.
yards, not moving and creating a challenge
Figures already show a very sharp con- Dr Fu anticipates the worst of the glo-
to operational efficiency.”
traction in December, with the grim per- bal economic slowdown to be over by
formance continuing into the first two 2010, but only if the US government is
Container volumes in Shenzhen fell 21% year
months of 2009. Some ports in southern able to solve its banking crisis and get the on year in the first two months of 2009 (Da
China saw volumes plunge by a third. major banks to start lending again. Chan Bay Terminal One pictured)
Containers handled by ports nation-
wide totalled 6.97M TEU in February,
down 17% on the same month in 2008.
The figure was also down 22.5% from
January 2009, which saw 8.99M TEU,
down 13.3% year on year and down 12%
from December 2008.
China’s exports fell 25.7% in Febru-
ary from a year earlier, while imports fell
24.1%. It was the fourth consecutive
monthly decline in exports and imports.
Shanghai, China’s largest container
port, handled 1.9M TEU in January and
1.5M TEU in February, down 17% and
19%, respectively, from the same months TRAILER DESIGNERS & MANUFACTURERS
last year, while Ningbo handled 1.4M
TEU in the first two months of this year,
down 14% year on year. The decline in
monthly box volumes widened from 5%
in January to 23% in February.
Shenzhen, China second-largest con-
tainer port, saw box volumes fall 21% in
the first two months. Shenzhen Chiwan
Wharf Holdings (SCWH), which oper-
ates nine berths in west Shenzhen, said
volume shrinkage had worsened in Feb-
ruary. Its throughput fell 24% in January
and 40% in February for a combined to-
tal of 682,000 TEU.
Wang Shouren, a senior executive of
the China Shippers’ Association (CSA),
said the latest forecasts showed Chinese
ports are expected to handle 140M TEU
this year, up from 126.3M TEU last year,
which was a 12.2% increase over 2007.
But Dr Fu Yuning, chairman of China
Merchants Holdings International
(CMHI), which has investments in nearly
all major Chinese ports and whose ter-
minals handle 34% of China’s container
traffic, has forecast a nationwide through-
put of only 129M TEU. “The worst is yet
to come,” Dr Fu said in his keynote ad-
dress at the 9th Annual Journal of Com-
merce Transpacific Maritime Conference
in Los Angeles.
And the figure could well be nega-
tive, Dr Fu said. That would be the first
time that container volumes have re-
mained the same, or even fallen, year-on
ROLLTRAILERS
year, he said, adding, “2009 will be
GOOSENECKS
DRAWBAR TRAILERS
...as Yangtze
CHASSIS
LIFT TRAILERS
shows signs
of upturn
After four months of dismal performance,
ports along the Yangtze River reported a
cargo increase in January, a sign that Chi-
na’s economic stimulus plan to improve in-
frastructure may be starting to work.
January container throughput at Yang-
tze ports rose 19.6% year on year to
550,000 TEU. Official figures show that
major ports along the river handled a to-
tal of 80 mt, up 5.7% year on year.
The river’s ports posted growth aver-
aging 14% in the first eight months of
last year, but as the global financial crisis
hit there was zero growth in September
SEACOM AG
and in the last three months fell 17%, 21%
Berbiceweg 5
and 30%, respectively.
Despite positive growth in January,
CH - 8212 Neuhausen
however, the immediate prospects for Yang-
Switzerland
tze ports are less optimistic. “There will be
a few more difficult months before the bad
Tel: +41 (0) 52 632 04 00
times are over, but we are confident busi-
Fax: +41 (0) 52 632 04 09
ness will improve in the second half of this
year and cargo will grow around 9%,” said
www.seacom-marine.ch
Huang Qiang, party secretary of Yangtze
River Administration.
March 2009 7
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