PSA's 2008 up 7.3pc, but warns of tough year ahead

SINGAPORE's PSA International Pte Ltd (PSA) has announced that its global container throughput for the 2008 calendar year amounted to 63.2 million TEU, an increase of 7.3 per cent over 2007.

In spite of last year's positive results, the group is warning of an extremely difficult year ahead for the container shipping industry amid the slowdown in world trade, particularly on the major east-west routes, sparked by the global economic crisis.

Within the total for 2008, the Singapore-headquarter international container terminal operator said its domestic operation, PSA Singapore Terminals, handled 29 million TEU, up seven per cent over the previous year, a group statement said.

PSA's overseas terminals registered 7.7 per cent growth with aggregate container volumes amounting to 34.2 million TEU. The group's network stretches across 16 countries in Asia, Europe and the Americas, and its operations boast a total global capacity of 111 million TEU over 66 kilometres of quay length.

PSA chief executive Eddie Teh said: By the end of the year, though, any lingering confidence that the major economic powerhouses would be able to stay out of a recession had been dashed - global trade worldwide had slowed to a crawl.

He said that PSA has been bracing and preparing itself for the lean months ahead.

Unless global economies are able to recover in the course of 2009 with the help of huge amounts of proposed spending by governments around the world, our industry will likely experience an extremely difficult year.

Source: CRIEnglish