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Media
Shippers forecast Hong Kong’s container throughput would fall 10% this year.
The port of Hong Kong handled 24.24m teu in the full year 2008, up 1% from the previous year. It managed to retain its third place in the world’s container port league.
However, users of the port are not optimistic about its performance in the new year.
Hong Kong Shippers Council executive director Sunny Ho estimated that the port would see a 10% decrease in container throughput this year.
He explained the forecast is not too pessimistic as Hong Kong had seen its volume fall 24% in the single month of December last year, compared with the same month in 2007.
“The figures of January would be alright, as factories try to ship cargo before the Chinese New Year holiday which starts on January 26. But February and March will be miserable since factories in south China will close for the New Year holiday from late January to early February with nothing to ship after the break.”
In fact, the 1% throughput growth recorded in 2008 is the lowest increase Hong Kong has recorded in seven years.
A Hong Kong factory owner who has a factory in Guangdong province said: “Everyone is in trouble now. We are not even sure whether we should reopen the factory after the holiday. We may just ask the workers not to come back.”
The top two boxports, Singapore and Shanghai, lifted 29.9m teu and 28m teu respectively in 2008, up 7.1% and 7% from the previous year.
Source: http://www.lloydslist.com
qq.com