The Bohai Rim ports saw throughput rise an impressive 23% to 1.6m teu in March from 1.3m teu in the previous corresponding period. Gains were led by Dalian Container Terminal, where volumes rose by more than half to 806,300 teu and the Euroasia International Container Terminal at Tianjin Port, which gained 15% more boxes with 228,100 teu moved in March.
Traditionally commodities driven Qinhuangdao Port also contributed, with the CSP’s New Harbour Terminal seeing volume rise 6% to 54.400 teu.
At the usual powerhouses of the Yangtze River and Pearl River Delta regions however, throughput fell 8% and 5% to 1.6m teu and 2.0m teu respectively in March as they came off relatively high bases in the previous in March 2017. The Pearl River Delta terminals, which have now been grouped into the Hong Kong cluster, Guangzhou cluster and Yantian International Container Terminals, were most affected by slowdowns at the Fragrant Harbour, which saw throughput plunge 10% to 268,300 teu. This erstwhile major South China transshipment hub is already the smallest component of the cluster and continues to see its volumes being eroded, as the Hong Kong Port official statistics will no doubt show when they are released later on Monday.
Both megaship-focussed Yantian and the Guangzhou terminals saw pullbacks as they approached the 1m teu per month mark, falling 4% and 5% respectively.
CSP’s fringe ports on the Southeast and Southwest coasts saw a sharp divergence in performance, with the former’s throughput rising 26% to almost hit the half a million teu per month mark at 499,300 teu, driven by an outstanding performance at Xiamen Ocean Gate Container Terminal, where volumes more than doubled to 199,300 teu. Perhaps affected by seasonal factors, volumes at the sole Southwest coast terminal at Guangxi Qinzhou slid 2% to 109,600 teu.
The overseas terminals meanwhile continue on their steady growth path, with throughput rising 36% to 2.1m teu and now making up the single largest contributor to CSP’s volumes, overtaking all other segments.
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