A mixed bag of Chinese fortunes
Henrik Pedersen, chief executive of APM Terminals’ Asia Pacific region which operates seven joint venture terminals in China from Dalian in the north to Guangzhou in the south, says the performance of the company’s Chinese terminals last year had been a “mixed bag” due to lower than expected GDP growth, along with weak market demand from the US and Europe.
Set against this, APMT reported growth in transhipment and imports at some terminals.
“In North China, we saw a marginal growth in overall port volumes, mainly from increased transhipment, both international and coastal alike, as well as domestic traffic,” he says.
“In Central China our Shanghai terminal located at Waigaoqiao port zone handled less volume, but generally the ports in Shanghai are targeting more international transhipment volume.
“In South China, our Xiamen terminal grew marginally, while our Nansha facility enjoyed healthy growth due to ongoing cargo shift from East Pearl River Delta – import and export alike, although domestic volume is being capped due to limited port capacity.”
He says that APMT is continuing to seek out investments opportunities in the China and the Far East and has recently made significant investment in a bonded project at Meishan port zone in Ningbo port.
However, to counter softer volumes, APMT has also embarked on a ‘take-cost-out’ initiative. “So far this has proven encouraging,” he says. “We expect 2013 to be a challenging year and we will continue to work towards our targets in terms of volume as well as profit.”
Related Articles
CONTAINER & CARGO HANDLING
TERMINAL OPERATIONS
EQUIPMENT