HK and Shenzhen ports lag rivals on throughput growth

Mainland ports continued to report double-digit growth in container throughput last month, but the ports of Hong Kong and the Pearl River Delta have yet to return to pre-crisis levels, reported the South China Morning Post.

The container throughput of mainland ports rose 24 per cent from
May last year to 11.7 million TEUs, the Ministry of Transport.
Ningbo, the fourth-largest port, posted its highest-ever container throughput at 1.22 million TEUs, a 51.4 per cent year-on-year rise, according to the port's authorities. Ningbo's container exports soared 35 per cent to 480,000 TEUs last month.

Ningbo Port, the company operating the Yangtze River Delta port, has applied to list in Shanghai and hopes to list in Hong Kong.

The year-on-year growth of container throughput of Shanghai, the world's second-busiest container port behind Singapore, was more than 20 per cent last month, Citi analyst Ally Ma said.

After suffering falling throughput for most of last year because of the global financial crisis, the container throughput at Hong Kong and mainland ports has been posting double-digit growth since January.

"Hong Kong and Shenzhen's throughput has not reached pre-crisis levels. We are not doing very well. Despite the high growth rate, Hong Kong has not reached its 2007 level," said Sunny Ho Lap-kee, an executive director of the Hong Kong Shippers' Council.

For the first four months of this year, container throughput in Hong Kong, the world's third-largest container port, reached 7.3 million TEUs, according to a Hong Kong Port Development Council estimate. This is 14.8 per cent higher than in the same period last year, but 7.1 per cent lower than 2008 and 1.5 per cent less than 2007.

Container throughput for Shenzhen, the second-biggest mainland port behind Shanghai, was 6.6 million TEUs in the first four months of this year, according to official Shenzhen data. This is 27.1 per cent higher than in the same period last year, but 0.7 per cent lower than 2008 and 7.6 per cent higher than 2007.
(Source:www.cargonewsasia.com)