Cosco Shipping Ports sees September throughput rise 4% to 8m teu

The growth was driven by the usual sectors, led by the Bohai Rim region with a stellar 5.9% to 2.8m teu. This was followed by the much smaller base Southeast Coast, Southwest Coast ports as well CSP's overseas terminals.

The Southeast Coast segment saw throughput rise 4.6% to 386,200 teu while on the Southwest Coast volumes rose 6.6% to 85,700 teu although this was only off Guangxi Qinzhou International Container Terminal, the sole port that the group has there at the moment.

China's shifting trade patterns and general economic slowdown meanwhile continue to take a toll on the Yangtze River Delta and Pearl River Delta ports. While still the third and second highest throughput ports respectively, the two key segments have seen a relentless slide throughout the year.

The Yangtze River Delta region saw throughput slide 4.1% to 1.5m teu from 1.6m teu previously while the Pearl River Delta ports saw volumes fall a more moderate 1.5% to 2.2m teu.

The falls were led by the Hong Kong terminals Cosco-HIT Terminal and Asia Container Terminal which fell 18.6% and 5.7% respectively. Surprisingly CSP's huge Shenzhen terminal in Yantian also saw an 8% throughput plunge to 1.1m teu.

The only growth in this region came from the still relatively new and ramping up terminals in Guangzhou, with Nansha rising 10.9% and South China Oceangate terminal rising 11.2%. However these were both from low bases of 460,100 teu and 360,700 teu to 510,000 teu and 400,900 teu respectively.

The poor throughput figures for CSP's Hong Kong-based terminals were however not reflected in the city's port figures, with the Marine Department reporting that overall throughput for September was almost flat, falling just 0.7% to 1.62m teu, perhaps more a function of the prolonged slump and reflecting a low base than any real improvement in performance.

Throughput at the main Kwai Tsing terminals however noteably returned to positive growth for the first time this year, rising 4.8% to 1.27m teu, although this was still lower than the 1.29m teu seen in August. The non-Kwai Tsing terminals saw volumes slump 16.7% to 350,000 teu.

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