On the right tracks

BMT Asia’s Dr Mark Yong says that although China has only 100,000 kilometres of rail at present, it is rapidly expanding.

Further, the pecking order is changing: “Freight cargo used to have a lower transportation priority than either military cargo or passengers, but along with the new infrastructure, freight is being recognised,” he says.

Chris Runckel of Runckel Associates makes the point that the investment in high speed trains is also likely to pull cargo freight to inland areas as links become more established between river and road or rail.

APMT’s Martin Christiansen concurs, saying that APM Terminals is seeing healthy growth from the western China region, helped by the government’s investment in rail and other infrastructure work. “We expect that this push towards the central and western part of China will… over time become an important growth driver for coastal ports.”