[160911.EN.SEA] Drewry's Box Shop League Tables Pose Terminal Problems Of Selection

SOME might be surprised to learn Hutchison Port Holdings (HPH) has slipped behind Singapore's PSA in Drewry's world container terminal league tables this year, and that Hong Kong's second biggest operator, Modern Terminals, ended up in the 32nd place and not eighth where it was expected to be.

Such odd results prompted the compositors of the new list at London's Drewry Maritime Research to expend 2,000 words how they came to their conclusions winning sympathy as their dilemma proved to be a difficult one.

"When PSA bought a 20 per cent stake in HPH we had to deal with one global operator owning a significant stake in another," said analysts who drafted the "Global Container Terminal Operators 2011", explaining that they worked on a "plus and minus rule" in making evaluations.

They also devised an "equity TEU" concept, subtracting volume from one and adding it to another, which meant that the biggest terminal throughput did not necessarily mean the biggest terminal operator.

But that caused new problems, they said: "What owners and what level of equity should be included?" they asked. "Should it only be the terminal operator level or also include the parent?"

For example, Shanghai International Port Group (SIPG) is a terminal operator in its own right, but it is 27 per cent owned by China Merchants, which has stakes in many other terminals.

"Likewise, Modern Terminals is a terminal operator in its own right, but itself is majority owned by China Merchants and Wharf," they said in the lengthy addendum.

"If we applied the plus and minus rule strictly, Modern Terminals would have very little TEU left. So in this case we have decided to show Modern Terminals equity TEU as being the pro rata volume in the terminals in which it holds a stake, but not including the Hong Kong terminal," the analysts said.

"This is not ideal as it could be argued that it does not show the true scale of Modern Terminals activities. If Modern Terminals were not owned by other players and was treated as independent operator, its equity throughput would be 8.3 million TEU rather than the 2.9 million TEU shown," they said.

Talking to the UK's Port Strategy, Neil Davidson, Drewry's senior advisor for ports, explained: "This new league table puts them in perspective, and highlights the sheer scale of 'local' players such as SIPG, China Merchants and Modern Terminals."

So with that in mind, one turns to the list:

ONE TO FIVE: PSA - 51.3 million TEU, market share 9.4 per cent; Hutchison Port Holdings - 6 million TEU, market share 6.6 per cent; DP World - 32.6 million TEU, market share 6 per cent; APMT - 31.6 million TEU, market share 5.8 per cent; Shanghai Port International Group - 19.5 TEU, market share 3.6 per cent;

SIX TO TEN: China Merchants - 17.3 million TEU, market share 3.2 per cent; Cosco 13.3 million TEU, market share 2.5 per cent; MSC - 9.9 million TEU, market share 1.8 per cent; SSA Marine/Carrix - 8.6 million TEU, market share 1.6 per cent; Port America - 8.1 TEU, market share 1.5 per cent;

ELEVEN TO FIFTEEN: Evergreen - 7 million TEU, market share 1.3 per cent; Eurogate - 6.2 million TEU, market share 1.1 per cent; Wharf Holdings - 5.6 million TEU, market share, 1.8 per cent; SSA Malaysia Mining Corporation - 5.3 million TEU, market share, 1 per cent; Hamburg's HHLA - 5.3 TEU, market share 1 per cent;

SIXTEEN TO TWENTY: CMA CGM Terminal Link -5.2 million TEU, market share 1 per cent; Hanjin - 4.6 million TEU, market share, 0.8 per cent; APL - 4.6 million TEU, market share 0.8 per cent; China Shipping - 4.3 million TEU, market share 0.8 per cent; Qingdao Port Bureau - 4.2 million TEU, market share 0.8 per cent;

TWENTY-ONE TO TWENTY-FIVE: ICTSI - 4 million TEU, market share 1 per cent; Transnet - 4 million TEU, market share 0.7 per cent; Guangzhou Port Group - 4 million TEU, market share 0.7 per cent; Indonesian State Bodies - 4 million TEU, market share 0.7 per cent and Lianyungang Port Authority - 3.8 million TEU market share 0.7 per cent.

Sorce : HKSG.