Ports riding on Asia Pacific growth

The company’s chief Asia economist told delegates at TOC Asia in Hong Kong that fast growing Chinese GDP has “huge implications for global trade”.

“In ten years time the size of Chinese GDP will surpass the EU and the US. Over the next 10-15 years the impact of China will be truly substantial,” he said.

“Emerging Asia will continue to be the fastest growing economy over the next decade.”

Mr Biswas singled out Indonesia and Myanmar as ripe for port investment. “Indonesia needs to invest heavily in port infrastructure; port development is one of the key bottlenecks for Indonesian development.”

He added that Myanmar is a “new opportunity with huge transhipment potential”.

IHS Global Insight forecasts for the container trades paint a positive picture for the medium term with 3% growth in 2013; 4.8% growth for 2014; and 5.5% growth for 2015 and 2016. Intra Asia trade is growing even more rapidly at 4.5% in 2013.

“We expect that kind of gap to continue for the next couple of years,” said Mr Biswas.