China’s ports see 8.1% YoY volume growth in early 2024

In the initial two months of the current year, Chinese ports, encompassing both sea and river terminals, collectively managed a 2.61 billion tons (Bt) of diverse cargoes.

According to the National Bureau of Statistics of China (NBSC), this is 8.1% higher compared to the corresponding months from 2023.

The aggregate throughput of the country’s coastal (maritime) ports alone grew by 6.8% year-on-year (y/y) to almost 1.73 Bt during the two months, as per the NBSC’s data.

For instance, Shanghai, the nation’s key gateway on the East China Sea, expanded its January-February 2024 handling volume by 8.2% y/y to 92 Mt, according to the port’s statistics. As far as its container segment is concerned, the port handled 830,400 TEU during the first two months of the current year, up 11.3% y/y.

Meanwhile, the port of Hong Kong on the South China Sea reportedly increased its container throughput by 2.9% y/y to 2.19 M TEU from January to February 2024. The figure includes 1.7 M TEU (up 4.1% y/y) handled by Kwai Tsing terminals, Hong Kong’s main container facilities, and 485,000 TEU (down 0.9% y/y) processed by the port’s other berths.

Last year, all the Chinese sea and river ports handled 16.97 Bt, having exceeded their 2022 volume by nearly 8%. In particular, the total and container throughputs of the Shanghai port reached 563.5 Mt (up 9.7% y/y) and 4.91 M TEU (up 3.9% y/y) respectively in 2023.

At the same time, Hong Kong saw a 14% downfall in its 2023 container volumes to 14.31 M TEU. Specifically, the Kwai Tsing terminals decreased their annual amount by 14.3% y/y to 11 M TEU, while other local facilities decrease by 13.2% y/y to 3.31 M TEU. The decrease was caused by the global trade slowdown coupled with China’s unsteady recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic.

Written by Oleksandr Gavrylyuk