[090619.EN.BIZ] Shanghai Global Port Study Posts Slow-downs in US, Singapore and HK

THE Shanghai International Shipping Institute's (SISI) quarterly Global Port Development Report reveals that growth in throughput slowed down at major ports worldwide in the first quarter "amid the feeble economic and trade growth".

Major ports posted a year-on-year growth rate of 2.7 per cent in the first quarter, which was lower than the same period in 2018, and container throughput growth was at 3.9 per cent, which was 2.7 percentage points lower than last year.

North American ports' box volume dropped 3.4 per cent in the first quarter, reported American Shipper.

"First, the US economic growth has topped out and begins to slow down dramatically," said the Chinese report.

America's GDP increased at an annual rate of 3.1 per cent in the first quarter, according to the second estimate released last week by the Bureau of Economic Analysis, which was up from the 2.2 per cent increase in the fourth quarter of 2018.

"Second, the tariff policies in the Sino-US trade war intensified the market panic and the 'advance shipment' out of concerns of aggravated situations overdrew the cargo shipping capacity, leading to the sluggish container growth in Q1 2019," according to the report.

The trade war also negatively impacted Hong Kong where container volume fell 9.2 per cent year on year to 4.44 million TEU, and the port fell to eighth place in global ranking.

Every other port in the top 10 in throughput experienced growth, including an 8.8 per cent growth by seventh-ranked Guangzhou to 5.29 million TEU. The rankings of the top seven ports remained static and were led by Shanghai's 10.42 million TEU, a seven per cent increase.

Ports in the Philippines handled 59.28 million tonnes of cargoes, a 6.4 per cent increase, while the Port of Singapore had a 2.6 per cent drop in throughput to 150 million tonnes.

Source : HKSG.