Global ports set for “warm winter”

The productivity of global ports has maintained a steady improvement this year and is expected to continue as the Christmas period sets in, according to the Shanghai International Shipping Institute.

Shanghai International’s 3Q13 Global Port Development Report revealed that in the third quart, with an increase in the traffic of bulk cargo including coal and ores, the growth rate of global ports saw a rise of 4% compared with the first half of the year.

The number of ports in negative growth decreased, with only Shenzhen, Ulsan, Jeddah, Halifax and Richards Bay showing a downturn as a result of cargo distribution and market competition.

The ports of Ningbo-Zhoushan, Singapore and Tangshan performed better, handling more than 100 million tonnes of cargo in a single quarter.

Despite this, the international trade in retail products showed “sluggish” growth, resulting in low growth rate of container throughput of ports around the world.

Shanghai International says on account of the low base last year and the early burst of bulk traffic by sea, the productivity of global ports could reach a plateau at the end of the year.

China remains the leader of global ports, European ports lead recovery, while US ports see slower growth and Australian ports report their first decline.

Latest rankings of Top 10 Global Ports in the First Three Quarters of 2013

2012 First three quarters of 2013 Change Port First three quarters of 2013 YoY growth (%) First three quarters of 2012 YoY growth (%)
1 1 Same Ningbo-Zhoushan 60,217 10.6 54,448 4.7
2 2 Same Shanghai 57,835 4.9 55,121 3
3 3 Same Singapore 41,339 3 40,121 0.5
4 4 Same Tianjin 37,840 7 35,370 5.5
7 5 Up Qingdao 34,027 10.4 30,820 8.6
6 6 Same Guangzhou 33,417 5.7 31,611 1.1
5 7 Down Rotterdam 33,241 0.3 33,159 1.5
9 8 Up Tangshan 32,317 24.3 26,005 16.3
8 9 Down Dalian 30,840 11.2 27,751 9.9
11 10 Up Yingkou 24,969 12.7 22,158 11.4