China’s ports enjoyed a strong performance in the first half of 2017, with an 8% increase in throughput compared with the same last year period, according to data released by the Ministry of Transport of China.

The top 10 container ports, which include Shanghai and Ningbo-Zhoushan in the Yangtze River Delta, Shenzhen and Guangzhou in the Pearl River Delta; and Qingdao and Dalian in the northern Bohai Rim, handled a combined 80.7 million teu in the first half of 2017, up 1.15% from 79.78 million teu in the first half of 2016, the latest figures indicate.

According to the ministry, the top 10 container ports by teu (teu is acronym of twenty-foot equivalent unit) were as follows:

• Shanghai port at 19.6 million teu
• Ningbo-Zhoushan at 12.36 million teu
• Shenzhen at 11.86 million teu
• Guangzhou at 9.63 million teu
• Qingdao at 9.09 million teu
• Tianjin at 7.41 million teu
• Dalian at 4.797 million teu
• Xiamen at 4.792 million teu
• Yingkou at 3.07 million teu
• Suzhou with 2.86 million teu

Guangzhou is undertaking a series of major infrastructure projects and facilities upgrades at its flagship Nansha terminals as it gears up for a planned listing once approval is granted by the China Securities Regulatory Commission and also had a very strong first half as volumes rose 11.7% year on year in the first half of 2017.

Ningbo-Zhoushan was a star performer in terms of growth among top 10 ports, handling 1.57 million more teu in the first half of this year than it did in the first half of last year.

China’s busiest port, Shanghai port performed well too, with year-on-year volume growth of 9.6%.

Sixteen ports were selected for the Index based on their global importance and growing relevance in the domestic market. The 12 Chinese ports ranked within the International Association of Ports and Harbor’s (IAPH) 2016 list of 50 ports with the most traffic were included, as well as four up-and-coming ports that displayed fast growth and cargo handling capacity in recent years.

The Index contains three main categories: size, growth, and financials. The sums of all the average weighted scores under the three categories generate the final scores and rankings of the 16 cities.

Size indicators reflect the natural advantages of the port itself. The top five ports for size are Shanghai, Ningbo, Tianjin, Guangzhou, and Dalian.

Unsurprisingly, these five ports specialize in large transit and storage of bulk-size products and raw minerals including chemicals, iron ore, oils, grain, and coal. Tianjin and Dalian, in the north of China, serve the industrial base there, while Guangzhou in the south serves the manufacturing base. Shanghai and Ningbo serve the unique advantage in the east with advanced shipping logistics services, solid commodities transit reserve transactions, and strong regional economic support.

Sources : china-briefing.com – fairplay.ihs.com – sse.net.cn – flexport.com

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