16 January 2024 (Lloyd's List) - CONTAINER throughput flowing through China's two state-owned port giants rebounded slightly in 2023, with their terminals in the Middle East and South America among the strongest growth engines.
The results reflect the backdrop during which Chinese ports began recovering from lockdown-led disruption after Beijing ended its notoriously heavy-handed zero-Covid policy early last year, although the country's weak exports reined in further revival.
China Merchants Group announced a year-on-year increase of 23.5% to 180.2m teu in total throughput for nearly 30 terminals and ports in its global portfolio.
But the growth rate is inflated because the company acquired a 23.1% stake in Ningbo Zhoushan Port in the past September, becoming the second-largest shareholder. It started counting its volume from October.
Excluding this change, handling volume grew only 0.7% to 137.5m teu, according to statistics from its Hong Kong-listed unit China Merchants Port Holdings.
Growth from its main throughput sources - Greater China, including Hong Kong and Taiwan - was similar to its overseas terminals, up 0.7% and 0.5% to 103.4m teu and 34m teu, respectively.
Cosco Shipping Ports saw total throughput at its 30-plus invested or operated locations increase 2.4% from 2022 to 105.8m teu. Volumes at its foreign terminals rose 3.1% to 32.7m teu.
Both companies' terminals in Hong Kong posted double-digit declines, being among their worst-performing facilities.
Box volume also shrank over 18% at the Kao Ming Container Terminal in Taiwan's Kaohsiung, in which the two firms have stakes.
What is more, Shanghai, the world's busiest container port, where both Cosco and China Merchants have exposure, fared reasonably well, with a 3.6% growth in throughput in 2023.
But its record 58% water-to-water transhipment rate suggests the way barge and feeder transport is counted in handling figures may be inflating the results.
However, the two companies' recent acquisitions and investments in emerging overseas markets appear to have delivered satisfactory growth, some due to low bases.
Cosco's Red Sea Gateway Terminal in Saudi Arabia's Jeddah and CSP Abu Dhabi Terminal in the United Arab Emirates rose 15.7% and 32.8% to 3.2m teu and 1.4m teu, respectively.
Kumport terminal in Turkiye, co-invested by Cosco and China Merchants, grew nearly 9% to 1.3m teu.
Box volume surged 39.7% to 887,000 teu at China Merchants' Djibouti terminal in the Red Sea inlet, while its 90%-owned TCP container terminal in Brazil increased 8.4% to 1.3m teu.
