From north to south and west to east, an overview of China's main ports.

From South to North

The future of China's container ports continues to brighten as investment in manufacturing moves from South China and Hong Kong to China's central (eastern) and northern regions, specifically the ports of Shanghai, Ningbo, Qingdao, Tianjin and Dalian. Despite this, Hong Kong in 2004 remained the world's largest container port, with a total volume of 22.5 million TEUs (twenty-foot equivalent unit), an increase of 8 percent over the previous year. Terminal operators in the former British colony expect that Hong Kong's growth will be a steady 5 percent per year to 2010. Hong Kong is still the leader in terms of value-added trade services such as consolidation, forwarding and financing, and when all factors are considered, exporters of high-value merchandise in South China often prefer the Hong Kong gateway over Shenzhen.

Hong Kong also has ample terminal capacity. With the opening last year of Container Terminal 9, Hong Kong added six berths to its Kwai Chung terminal. In addition to the new facilities, the large stevedoring company Modern Terminals Inc. announced that it will increase the throughput capacity of its existing Container Terminals 1, 2 and 5 by about 25 percent by mid-2006. The ports located at Shenzhen, located across the border from Hong Kong, continue to capture an increasing share of exports from South China. Hong Kong lost 25 percent of its market share to the Shenzhen ports over the past two years.

From West to East

The real buzz of activity in China is in the Yangtze River corridor from the massive city of Chongqing to Shanghai. Manufacturing in the region is exploding, and the government is racing to keep infrastructure development a step ahead of the growth in cargo volume. It is a difficult challenge. The Port of Shanghai, for example, completed Phase 4 of the Waigaoqiao complex two years ago, and it is already operating at capacity. Phase 5 is nearing completion. The big news in Shanghai will be the opening of the first phase of the deep-water port complex at Yangshan later this year. The entire project will take 15 years to complete and will eventually provide capacity of 25 million TEUs, although it will start modestly with a first-phase capacity of five berths and 2.2 million TEUs.

The opening last year of the Three Gorges Dam set the stage for rapid growth in the Yangtze River corridor. Until then, moving containers from the interior of China to Shanghai was a tortuous and inefficient process. By deepening the river and controlling the flow of water, China is opening efficient river transportation for producers in China's heartland. Shanghai International Port Group recognizes the importance of the river ports to its growth, and it is investing in ports such as Chongqing, Wuhan, Changsha and Nanjing.

Shanghai competes somewhat with Ningbo, and that port continues to expand rapidly in line with manufacturing in the region. Ningbo last year handled about 4 million TEUs, an increase of 50 percent over 2003. Ningbo, like other Chinese port cities, seeks partnerships with private-sector terminal operators. Ningbo is pushing a $1 billion expansion program, with Cosco Pacific aiming to participate in the project.

For a map of China's ports, click here
For more info on Shanghai, click here
For more info on Hangzhou, click here

Source: Up, up and away - Monday, April 18, 2005 Journal of Commerce By Bill Mongeluzzo

 

Related Articles and Discussions

• China's Eastern cities
• Shanghai
• Hangzhou
• Ningbo
• Business culture in Beijing
• Business culture in Shanghai
• Business culture in Guangzhou
• Business culture in Zhejiang