by Lloyd's List
30 August 2024 (Lloyd's |List) - THE world’s largest container port, Shanghai, is on the cusp of becoming the first to surpass the 50m teu annual throughput figure, as one of nearly all of the big box hubs to report robust volume growth through the first half of 2024.
In the absence of a dramatic turnaround in fortunes, the colossal Chinese port will breach the landmark come the end of December having chalked up an impressive 8.1% increase in box numbers in the first six months of the year on 2023, up from 23.6m teu to 25.5m teu.
Shanghai’s feat comes despite China’s economic recovery appearing to be struggling in the face of an uncertain property market and weaker demand globally, particularly in its traditional export markets in the west. In addition, of course, this is also against the backdrop of an increasingly complex geopolitical environment, one that has seen tensions with the US, one of the country’s largest trading partners, and Europe rise once more.
However, Shanghai is not the only Chinese port to have showed continued resilience.
The other five Chinese ports ranked among the top 10 on the global stage in terms of box business across the docks also reported a strong start to 2024.
Shenzhen was the standout.
The Southern Chinese hub witnessed a slight dip in traffic in the past year, a performance largely attributed to a preference for focusing on mainline trade routes and exports to Western economies.
But through the first six months of 2024, Shenzhen has bounced back and then some.
Volumes have surged by more than 17% from its 2023 tally, or more than 2.2m teu to 15.5m teu. To put this in to context, the jump here is greater than the volumes handled by ports such as Oakland in the US or Europe’s Gdansk and Southampton across all of the past year.
Qingdao also notched up a close to 10% increase in throughput figures through the first six months of the year. This followed its achievement of being the fastest growing major Chinese port in 2023, as its move to bolster connections with emerging markets, most notably in the Asean, continues to muster healthy volume development.
Meanwhile, Guangzhou and Tianjin also reported more than respectable volume growth figures up and above 4% in the first half of the year.
The non-Chinese contingent in the top 10 ranked container ports were once again led by the Asia’s giant transhipment hubs Singapore and Busan.
Singapore, the world’s second-largest box hub, improved on its first half performance by 6.4%, with more than 20m teu handled, putting it on course to achieve its own landmark of eclipsing 40m teu for the first time in its history.
The port’s volumes have been boosted by additional box transfers across its quays stemming from disruption in the Red Sea. Carriers have increasingly utilised the port for container re-handling purposes to ensure regional cargo coverage is maintained ahead of journeys around the Cape of Good Hope, according to port operator PSA International.
Figures published by the South Korean government show Busan with a jump of 5.6% to 12.2m teu, closing the gap on Guangzhou which sits in sixth in the global rankings.
Dubai holds the crown as the only Middle East port in the top 10 after it continued its own growth trend through the first six months of 2024, while Malaysian mega hub Port Klang looks set to make its entry among the elite box facilities, despite Lloyd’s List’s estimates of a slight dip in traffic in the first six months of 2024.
Port Klang’s inclusion, though, comes at the expense of a notable absentee in the shape of Hong Kong, where volumes dropped back by a further 8.6% in the first half of the year as the port continues to lose business to Chinese rivals.
Hong Kong slips out of the top 10, where it had remained since the early 1980s, having been the world’s largest port 20 years ago.
