ASIA

Chinese ports not over-doing capacity

21 years ago

Chinas Communications Minister Zhang Chunxian has rejected suggestions that the countrys major port expansion programme will create a capacity glut. He noted that the building programme would simply meet future demand whilst easing congestion at existing facilities. He also noted that some ports cannot be upgraded and therefore new ports would have to be built given that the country is expected to be handling anything up to 140m TEUs by 2010, effectively double todays volumes.

Nevertheless in the meantime, infrastructure bottlenecks are creating major congestion.

For 2005, Chunxian forecasts throughput of 75 million TEUs, an increase of 22%. This year will see US$4.83bn invested in port infrastructure, resulting in 120 new berths coming on stream by 31 December. He also revealed that Hong Kong will retain its position as the major outlet for production in the Pearl River Delta and that its role would be complimentary to that of Shenzhen.