Good year for Cosco Pacific as throughput grows 10 percent - Greg Knowler, Senior Asia Editor | Jan 15, 2015 11:59PM EST HONG KONG — Last year was good to Cosco Pacific as the port operating arm of China’s largest shipping company saw its container throughput rising 10.6 percent in 2014 with 67.3 million TEUs crossing its busy wharves. All port segments reported growth in 2014 and while the lowest year-over-year increase was during the third quarter, even the containers handled in that period grew by 8.7 percent. Pearl River Delta terminals handled by far the most containers at 19 million for the year, more than 13 percent above the 2013 figure. However, the Cosco-Hongkong International Terminals (HIT) joint venture in Hong Kong dragged down the PRD figure as its throughput was hurt by a dock worker strike in the first half and high levels of congestion in the second half of the year. Cosco Pacific acquired 40 percent of Hong Kong’s Asia Container Terminals in March so year-over-year comparisons were not available, but the CT8 West terminal handled 1.14 million TEUs during 2014. By contrast Yantian International Container Terminal in neighboring Shenzhen handled 11.6 million TEUs last year, up 8.1 percent year-over-year. The terminal’s performance during the year can best be described as steady as it continues to attract South China manufacturers at the expense of Hong Kong. The worst performing port segment at Cosco Pacific was the Yangtze River Delta ports. A total of 9.9 million TEUs were handled by the six terminals, an increase of just 4.1 percent. Taken together, the YRD ports posted negative growth every month during the second half. The chief reason YRD ports posted such weak collective growth was a result of restructuring at Zhangjiagang Win Hanverky Container Terminal, a river port about 70 miles upstream from Shanghai. Its throughput fell more than 40 percent compared to 2013 as the focus shifted towards handling bulk shipments. Shanghai Pudong International Container Terminals saw its throughput growing by 5.7 percent to 2.3 million TEUs, but during the last two months of the year it also posted large red numbers. In November throughput fell 16.3 percent, and that accelerated to a 18.1 percent drop year-over-year in December. Besides a weak result for most of the year from Dalian port Container Terminal, the Bohai Rim sector had a reasonably good 2014, growing 6.8 percent compared to 2013. Qingdao Qianwan Container Terminal was the group’s leading performer, handling 16.1 million TEUs during the year at a growth of 7.5 percent. But it was Cosco Pacific’s overseas port segment that was the star performer the year, growing 17 percent compared to 2013, led by strong growth at its joint venture terminal with PSA in Singapore, Antwerp Gateway and Greece’s Piraeus Container Terminal. The Suez Canal Container Terminal handled the most TEUs in the overseas segment, up almost 9 percent year-over-year with a 2014 throughput of 3.4 million 20-foot containers.
Posted on: Sat, 17 Jan 2015 05:25:44 +0000
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