“Golden Age” over for Hong Kong

News 30 Jun 2015 by WCN Editorial

A report from the Shanghai International Shipping Centre suggests the golden age of the Port of Hong Kong may be “history”

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In its latest quarterly review of the world port market Shanghai International Shipping Centre noted Chinese ports had a “good start” to the year in QI 2015. Total throughput reached 49.1M TEU, up 7.69%, a better growth rate than the 5.92% achieved in Q1 2014 and the 6.1% 2014 quarterly average.

“Following the trend of larger ships, deepwater ports have been built and put into operation in Shanghai, Ningbo-Zhoushan and Shenzhen, effectively attracting the calls of large ships. Moreover, ports were actively developing international transshipment services for further port development. In Q2, with fading effects of Spring Festival as well as further implementation of Europe’s QE program and the US tight monetary policy, the Chinese market may improve, and the growth of major ports may increase slightly” the report stated.

Hong Kong, however, appears to be on a downward spiral. Throughput in Q1 fell 7.85% to 4.9M TEU and the port has now seen 9 consecutive months of falling throughput.

“Cargo of transshipment from North China was shrunk due to shipping companies’ separation of South China routes and North China routes. Meanwhile, increasingly severe congestion and lowering terminal efficiency made the Port of Hong Kong less attractive to shipping companies. Larger ships and fleet alliances continue to increase the burden of Port of Hong Kong at present. Berth shortage, limited land, low efficiency and other structural problems are further aggravated. Moreover, with industrial upgrading in Pearl River Delta, the port can no longer meet the cargo shipping needs of capital intensive industries. The “golden age” of the Port of Hong Kong may become a history” the Centre concluded.