Shippers face the ‘perfect storm’

Speaking at the Eurocoke Summit in Amsterdam, Chris Welsh, secretary-general of the GSF, said that increasing international trade will set unprecedented challenges to ports, in port hinterland distribution and in surface road and rail freight movements.

In a presentation, Mr Welsh told global procurement leaders in the world coke, coal and steel industry that the OECD projects that trade related international freight will grow by a factor of 4.3 by 2050.

He warned about the impact on shipping and the economy if there is insufficient road and rail infrastructure, port capacity and systems in place.

Future growth, he said, will be driven by changes to production and sourcing and in the geographical composition of trade. The shift is reflected in the fact that nine of the world’s top ten ports are located in Asia with China alone accounting for seven of the top ten ports and of a continuous shift of economic activity to emerging economies.

Mr Welsh said: “The west coast of the United States has given a glimpse of a nightmare situation. Some US economic analysts have said that the situation has had a “drag” effect on US GDP, with 12.5% of US GDP flowing through the two main West Coast container ports, costing the US economy billions of dollars.”

GSF has called on the industry and regulators to work together in order to avoid any future congestion crises by ensuring better scenario planning and that sufficient supply chain contingency strategies are in place.