¡¡¡¡Since Jan. 13th, 2008, the newly-completed 4th and 5th Berths in Shenzhen Port¡¯s Dachan Bay Dock have launched a successful regular ocean shipping service. The whole industry is now expecting increased competition in the container transportation market.
¡¡¡¡However, Feng Yun, Director of Waterway Economic Affairs Office, part of the Waterborne Transportation Institute of the Ministry of Communications, believes that despite the densely-located ports throughout the Pearl River Delta, shared hinterland cargo resources and duplicated service means, there is still in general a huge gap between the current entire ports capacity here and ever growing freight demand.

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Pearl River Delta economic development supports port industry

¡¡¡¡Jiang Qiuhua  

¡¡¡¡¡°In this palm-sized Pearl River Delta, we have a unique layout in that two 20-million TEU container ports as well as a nearly 10-million TEU one (Hong Kong Port, Shenzhen Port, Guangzhou Port) sit close to one another, all of which have benefited mainly from the Pearl River Delta¡¯s sustained and rapid economic development.¡± Feng Yun reflected during our interview.

¡¡¡¡Abundant cargo resources back up

¡¡¡¡In 2007, Hong Kong Port accomplished container throughput of 23.88 million TEU, a 1.5% increase over the previous year. Shenzhen Port completed 21.0991 million TEU, up by 14.24%. Guangzhou Port broke 9.2 million TEU, up by 41.4%.
¡¡¡¡At present, the economic hinterland shared by these three major ports - the Pearl River Delta - has become an international manufacturing base. Increasingly intensive processing and manufacturing industries have enlarged energy demand and also triggered growth in international trade. Thus logistics volume of the Pearl River Delta shows a substantial rise, posing growing demands to port capacity. As early as in 2006, foreign trade export volume from the Pearl River Delta had reached US$ 284 billion, a 20% increase over 2005, representing 94% of the total out of Guangdong Province. And within alone 2006, ports in the Pearl River Delta totalled 31 million TEU in container throughput.
¡¡¡¡So far, however, it is undeniable that there is a clear gap between maximum terminal capacity and cargo transport needs in the Pearl River Delta. Take Shenzhen Port as an example: in 2007 Shenzhen Port achieved 21.0991 TEU in container throughput, while its designed capacity sits at just 14 to 15 million TEU. Undoubtedly, Shenzhen Port is having difficulties in undertaking the mounting freight transportation demand, and this has exactly mirrored things happened for all ports currently in the Pearl River Delta. Experts predict that the next a few years will see freight volume here increase by 14% to 15% per year, by 2010 and 2015, container handling capacity will reach 38.8 million TEU and 51 million TEU respectively, which hints at an even tougher challenge to the port capacity.

¡¡¡¡Port expansion for growing demand

¡¡¡¡A drastic surge in cargo resources has resulted in a shortage of port throughput capacity, and also made ports in the Pearl River Delta overloaded. Hong Kong Port has not built any new terminals since completion of its 9th Container Terminal, whose capacity has been saturated already, and the further development of container transportation restrained. In such circumstances, Guangzhou Port and Shenzhen Port are allowed space and opportunities for expansion.
¡¡¡¡Sean Kelly, Managing Director of MTL, predicted that in the same way that container throughput in 2006 has increased by 4 million TEU, the ports in the Pearl River Delta will continue this momentum. Thus this means every year there will be 4 to 5 new terminals constructed to sustain demand. The current projects such as Yantian, Dachan Bay and Nansha will effectively fill in the gap between relatively poor capacity and actual demand.
¡¡¡¡According to the Shenzhen City National Economic and Social Development Framework for the 11th Five-Year Plan, by 2010, Shenzhen City¡¯s GNP will reach US$115 billion, growing at 13% annually.
¡¡¡¡Also its container throughput will achieve 25 million TEU. Simultaneously, Guangzhou will invest RMB 27.3 billion in ports construction, 90% of which will be for a deep-water port in Nansha. After 10 berths completed there, Guangzhou Port will probably reach 10 million TEU in its container throughput in 2010.

¡¡¡¡Strengths supplement each other

¡¡¡¡Throughout the Pearl River Delta, Hong Kong Port, Shenzhen Port and Guangzhou Port represent different advantages, supplementing each other in assignments division. Hong Kong Port has a free port policy and mainly imports via international routes, firmly maintaining its position as an international transfer terminal amongst its peers. Shenzhen Port is located at the Pearl River¡¯s access to the sea and close to international routes and, with additional policy advantages, its ocean container transportation business keeps it prosperous. And Guangzhou Port, which focuses on internal container routes, is going uphill with Nansha Port area being put into production and international routes gradually growing. Up to now, a container transport system has formed among the Pearl River Delta ports, in which Hong Kong Port, Shenzhen Port and Guangzhou Port play an essential role, while Dongguan Port and Zhuhai Port serve as feeder ports.
¡¡¡¡Judging from the current tendency, the above-mentioned three major ports are sparing no efforts to seek greater development. Towards the Dachan Bay terminal project, Guangzhou Port and Hong Kong Port appear relatively calm. A staff member from Guangzhou port suggested that Guangzhou Port isn¡¯t affected and will continue on with previously established goals.
¡¡¡¡Economic development has promoted port expansion. The current Pearl River Delta port capacity falls far behind freight transportation demand, however this demand should be treated as a huge cake. Therefore, all three major ports ought firstly to improve their own throughput ¡°appetite.¡± In response, Feng Yun reflected his view that: ¡°In the long term, major ports need to identify a common objective, namely, to undertake container transportation throughout the Pearl River Delta, serving regional economic development.¡±