Shanghai: Cargo figures along China's key inland trade artery, the Yangtze river, are picking up for the first time in five months. Latest official figures stated that the major ports in the area reported cargo throughput of 80 million tons in January, representing a 5.7 percent year-on-year growth, Saturday's "China Daily" reports.
The ports posted strong growth in cargo - an average 14 percent- in the first eight months of last year, but were hurt by the financial crisis. In September there was zero growth and in the last three months it fell 17, 21 and 30 percent respectively. ?Container throughput in the ports grew to 550,000 TEUs in January, up by 19.6 percent year-on-year, compared with 8 percent and 14 percent growth in November and December respectively. ?Both cargo and container growth rates are on a par with the same period last year when China's overall economic growth was much stronger. ?Despite the positive growth in January, prospects ahead for the ports along the Yangtze River are less optimistic. "There will be a few more difficult months before the bad time is over, but we are confident that business will improve in the second half of 2009 and annual cargo throughput growth will be around 9 percent," said Huang Qiang, party secretary of Yangtze River Administration. [23/02/09]
Copyright © 2024. All rights reserved. Seatrade, a trading name of Informa Markets (UK) Limited. Add Seatrade Maritime News to your Google News feed.
