China’s ports have seen several year-on-year declines in volumes as a result of the fall in export demand, which has affected the rate of growth at many of China’s major ports, despite all ports handling more than 120 million TEU in 2015, according to the Journal of Commerce.
The result comes shortly after the Chinese stock market crash, which led to a severe dip in China’s economic growth, as well as unpredictable swings in market performance.
China’s leading port, the Port of Shanghai, saw flat volumes compared to August, 2015, with volumes recorded at 3.15 million TEU.
The decline in volumes could also be attributed to the recent Tianjin Blast, which took around 159 lives, and brought TEU volumes down at the Port of Tianjin by around 411,000 TEU in August, 2015 compared to a month prior.
Despite a rocky economy, many aspects of China’s port and shipping plans appear to be coming in to fruition, with Guangzhou recently announcing a US$15 billion plan to develop port and shipping facilities in the country.
China Merchant Holdings, one of China’s leading port operators, also announced its intention to jointly-operate Kumport Terminal in Turkey with Cosco Pacific and CIC Capital Corporation.
Fact File: The Port of Shanghai is China’s largest port and handled more than 35 million TEU in 2014. According to the Shanghai International Maritime Information Research Center, it has a total of 1160 berths and became the first port to exceed 30 million TEU in the world.
