Worldwide impact from Eurozone crisis

According to the Global Port Development Report from Shanghai International Shipping Institute (SISI) the European and American economic turmoil has inevitably affected the African economy. Combined with “the backward infrastructure, less advanced technologies and other factors that have long constrained the development of African ports,” this led to a failure to maintain the strong growth the area saw in 2010. Most ports, especially South African ones, have seen an approximate 20% decline in throughput for 2011.

However, despite the world’s slow down, the Chinese market share remains large, and Chinese ports still occupy seven out of ten top throughput listings. Among them, the Port of Shanghai has maintained its lead with a yearly throughput of 0.72 billion tons, up 10.26% year-on-year; the Port of Tianjin had realized a ever growing throughput by virtue of active investment and construction as well as bilateral cooperation, up one place on the list; the Port of Tangshan, a major hub of mass cargo transportation of energies and raw materials in China, had made its way on the top 10 list with fast and steady development.

In contrast with the dismal global trends, the Australian ports increased their cargo throughput. For example, driven by the high demands from China, South Korea and Japan, the throughput of Port Hedland increased remarkably, with its cargo volume climbing to 22.19 million tons in 2011, up 17.4% year-on-year.