China’s 1Q20 Port throughput down by 8.5%, DynaLiners

China’s 1Q20 Port throughput down by 8.5%

In the difficult first three months of this year, ports in China handled 55.2 million TEU, a decline of 8.5% year-on-year. Some 49.3 million TEU (-8%) was routed via sea ports, whilst 5.8 million TEU (-11%) was handled by river ports. It should be noted that sea ports also handle (substantial amounts) of river cargo and some river ports also handle seagoing containers. The below table comprises the country’s twenty-five largest seaports. Many of them saw volumes go down by double-digit percentages, with stiff declines for the major ports of Dalian (-27%), Shenzhen (-12%), Yingkou (-16%), Guangzhou (-10%) and Shanghai (-10%) in particular. With declines of less than 10%, or even an occasional rise, Ningbo (-8%), Xiamen (-6%) and Qingdao (+2%) fared better.

Although most river ports are restricted to handling inland barges, a few also cater for (international) seaborne trade. The largest such port is Suzhou, which comprises Taicang and Zhanjiangang. It handled 1.27 million TEU (-19%). Other major river ports also involved in sea trade are Jianying, Nanjing and Nantong, but their seagoing volumes are substantially smaller. The latter outlet actually saw its volume go up by almost 30%.

Reposted from DynaLiners, 24-04-2020