[分享]TOP 10 Asian Ports - Growth triggers frenetic expansion

TOP 10 Asian Ports - Growth triggers frenetic expansion Stiff competition has forced hub ports to concentrate on value-adding incentives to attract and keep customers, such as fast connections and integrated packages Booming exports from Asia to Europe and the US continue to swell port volumes across Asia-Pacific. The top 「hub」 ports therefore continue to expand, boost productivity and realign operations to cope with the arrival of mega container ships. Competition for transhipment containers, however, continues to be stiff not only between neighbouring aspirants, but from new facilities elsewhere. Hub ports are focusing increasingly on anticipating specific customer needs and providing fast connections. They are also offering integrated package solutions which apart from rates is the universal mantra for port operators to win over shipping lines. IT is increasingly coming to the fore. 「Today information is money. Data and information flow rises in tandem with rising volumes,」 Tan Puay Hin, COO of PSA Singapore Terminals, tells Fairplay. Singapore, which overtook Hong Kong as the busiest container port in 2005 (see table right), has also been ahead in using IT tools to facilitate cargo operations at its huge terminals. 「What we are doing now is to use this platform [Portnet] to integrate various components of the supply chain so that users across the board can exchange information,」 Tan explained (see p33). While its Malaysian neighbour Port of Tanjung Pelepas has sliced off sizeable volumes, growth is still strong considering the huge base of 22M teu handled in 2005. PTP snatched the world』s top container line Maersk in 2000 and Taiwan』s Evergreen Marine a year later. Other major lines, including Korea』s Hanjin Shipping and Japan』s K Line, which at one time were seriously weighing options to move over to the new facility in neighbouring Johor province, have stayed put. PSA pre-empted further switchovers by cutting rates and strengthening co-operation with shipping lines. In a major departure from past policies, it has struck terminal joint-venture partnerships in Singapore with China』s Cosco and MSC of Switzerland. Rival PTP is not among the Top 10 as growth was flat in 2005, but equity partner Maersk』s acquisition of P&O Nedlloyd has ensured a double-digit surge this year (see p32). Since the surge in Asian exports from 2003, PSA has felt the need to expand capacity. For a short period in 2004 it even experienced congestion and fast-tracked the construction of five new berths. Tan is looking at an annual growth of 5% to 6% for PSA. 「This year we are on target to exceed 23M teu,」 he said. The ratio of transhipment cargo continues to rise as the small size of the country means that local volumes are not a large proportion of the business. At 20% of the total throughput they are, however, still considerable. To cope with anticipated growth, PSA is adding a total of 15 new berths by 2011 that would raise annual capacity from 24M teu to 31M teu. Older terminals are also being upgraded by increasing water depth to accommodate bigger ships. While Singapore is likely to hold its own against Hong Kong, it may not be able to stop the inexorable march of China』s other port groups. The huge Yangshan deep-water facility is now up and running, so Shanghai is fast catching up with the big two. Hong Kong itself is facing competition from the Shenzhen in the Pearl River Delta, whose volumes are closing in on Shanghai (see p28). Ningbo near Shanghai has benefited from the move to merge operations with Zhoushan. Together the facilities handled over 5M teu in 2005 (see p34), propellingNingbo-Zhoushan to ninth place, slightly ahead of Tianjin. Busan in South Korea has already lost some volumes to the north-east China ports of Qiangdao, Tianjin and Dalian, all of which have begun implementing expansion projects. Busan, however, is confident of maintaining growth. Expansion plans, also based on anticipated increase in the Japan trade, are on track. The Busan Port Authority has engaged customer lines in continuous dialogue to boost transhipment cargo. Rates and productivity seem to be the key issues. Investments are also being made in logistics to boost hinterland cargo. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Top 10 Container Ports – Asia Pacific (M teu) Year Port 2005 1996 2015 (forecast) 1 Singapore 23.2 12.9 33 2 Hong Kong 22.4 13.4 28 3 Shanghai 18.0 2.0 38 4 Shenzhen 16.9 0.6 46 5 Busan 11.8 4.8 22 6 Kaohsiung 9.4 n/a 13 7 Qingdao 6.3 n/a 26 8 Port Klang 5.5 n/a 10 9 Ningbo-Zhoushan 5.2 n/a 20 10 Tianjin 4.8 n/a 22