SISI: Economic prosperity phase to benefit ports

The report, released this month, said that various major world economy indicators are improving and stabilising, with economic growth reaching 3.6%.

A stabilising world economy and increasingly active global trade will push the port industry into a consolidation phase prior to a new growth era, it added.

The document said that in 2017, global container ports’ throughput increased by 6% year-on-year to 740m teu, reaching a six-year high. Additionally, it predicted world ports’ container throughput to maintain a robust growing momentum this year.

When it came to dry bulk, the average value of the Baltic Dry Index in 2017 was 1,145 points, up by 70% year-on-year, with freight rates gradually going into an uptrend of recovery and adjustment and international iron ore and coal demand increasing overall.

However, last year also saw 24 major oil producers, including OPEC member states, reaching a capacity-trimming agreement of 1.8m barrels a day, for the first time over the last eight years. The OPEC member states’ long-term petroleum capacity trimming deal has decreased the world’s supply, resulting in the slow growth overall of global shipping volumes of liquid bulk.

Yet, the world’s top six terminal operators finished with 250m teu of equity throughput and, except COSCO Shipping Ports, all saw positive growth.

Despite this, however, 2017’s investment in global ports offered a moderate growth trend, with the port investment and infrastructure building slowing down in some countries.

The ports of Ningbo-Zhoushan, Shanghai and Singapore retained their places from 2016 as the top, second and third ports for cargo throughput respectively, with Port Hedland coming eighth in 2017 and Rotterdam coming tenth.

More about the report can be found here.