Tianjin Port

Chinese port operator Tianjin Port Development Holdings reported a first half net profit of US$18 million which is a 19% year-on-year increase.

Revenue rose 8.6% to $79.8 million.

Tianjin Port, which handles both container and bulk cargo, bought a 40% stake in a Tianjin container terminal in July last year.

The company became the largest shareholder of Alliance International Container Terminal, which has four berths with a designed capacity of 1.7 million TEUs.
Source: CargoNews Asia

Yantian Port

SinoCast China Transportation Watch reports that Shenzhen Yantian Port is set to team up with Hutchison Whampoa Yantian Port Investment to construct the western section terminal of the Port of Yantian, one of the fastest growing ports in southern China.

Three new 50,000-tonnage container berths are to be built, and an old one is to be enlarged.

Yantian Port will contribute $69 million, Hutchison Whampoa’s port investment unit $128 million, with the remaining $365 million coming from bank loans.

The western section of Yantian Port mainly serves near sea routes, Southeast Asian sea routes, and domestic trade sea routes, while Yantian International Container Terminals, the operator of the middle section, manages international ocean routes.
Source: CargoNews Asia

Tianjin port

CMA CGM Group has signed a 50-year concession agreement to build and operate a 1.7m teu (twenty foot equivalent unit which is a single container) terminal in the Port of Tianjin. The new terminal is expected to become operational in 2011 and will feature a 1,100-meter quay.

It will be operated by a joint venture consisting of CMA CGM (20%); Tianjin Port Holding, a Tianjin Port Group subsidiary listed on the Shanghai Stock Exchange (60%), and Hong Kong-based Asia International Shipping (20%).

The group, which is already present in the Chinese port of Xiamen and operates a network of 64 offices across the country, currently offers 30 weekly services from China, with a departure every six hours.
Source: SeaTrade Asia Online

Hamburg Süd has received approval from China’s Ministry of Communications to expand it’s network of proprietary offices.

Established in December 2005 in Shanghai, Hamburg Süd (China) now has a network of offices in the country.

The company’s new branches are in the key transport hubs of Guangzhou, Ningbo, Qingdao, Shenzhen, Tianjin and Xiamen.

This rapid development also reflects advances made in Hamburg Süd’s liner services, which now offer multiple sailings every weekbetween China and South America, South Africa, Australasia, and, most recently, the Indian Subcontinent.

Now the company has launched two new weekly fixed-day services linking China to India, Pakistan, and Sri Lanka.
Source: Eye for Transport

Shanghai’s Yangshan port is currently in the splendid position where any new additional capacity that becomes available is immediately fully booked by shipping lines days in advance.

Y. S. Gong, general manager, operations, OOCL (China), said Yangshan port was much more easily accessible because it was a deep-water port unlike Waigaoqiao’s facilities that were subject to tide conditions.

Gong added: ‘Furthermore, Yangshan port’s container handling cost is 10% cheaper than Waigaoqiao’s, although there is an additional trucking cost of about $72 per 20-foot container for transportation of the container from the city to Yangshan.’

Yangshan port is also more convenient as vessels can move in and out of the port within 24 hours.

A Waigaoqiao port official said all berths in Yangshan’s Phase 3A, which opened without any fuss on December 10 last year, have been already booked out.

He said, ‘Under Phase 3A, four berths with a length of 1,350m were constructed and they have an alongside water depth of 22m, which means they can accommodate vessels of 10,000 TEU plus.’ Where the letters TEU stand for a container.

Yangshan port’s Phase 1 and Phase 2 projects have five and four berths respectively with an alongside depth of 15m so they take smaller vessels. Still massive but slightly smaller.

Shanghai International Port Group, Singapore’s PSA International, China Shipping and French shipping giant CMA CGM have invested in Phase 3A.

Now 3B is open for bidding and it seems unlikely that anything will stop it getting it into operation sometime before the very end of the year.

Several port operators as well as carriers have expressed an interest in the project.
Last year, Shanghai port handled 26.15 million containers — TEU — which is up 20.4% year-on-year, and overtook Hong Kong to become the No. 2 port in the world after Singapore.

This year, the port expects to match Singapore and just possibly overtake it. To read much more on the subject click HERE.
Source: CargoNews Asia

Maersk line, the world’s largest container shipping company, has transferred its foreign container business in the Qingzhou Terminal at the Mawei Port Area of the Port of Fuzhou, Southeast China, to the Jiangyin Port Area.

The Jiangyin Port Area, with deeper water than the Qingzhou Terminal, has a processing area for exported products, 283,000 sq m of logistics yard, a dedicated passenger line between Jiangyin and Fuzhou and 25 hectares of container yard at the 100,000-tonnage No. 3 and No. 2 container berths.

To adds to this there will be a bonded logistics area and other supporting facilities such as gas station and bank offices.

Maersk line expects to handle 100,000 containers in the Jiangyin Port Area this year.

This is part of an overall expansion in shipping routes and a drive to promote more cargo sources.
Source: CargoNews Asia

China and the European Union (EU) have given each other unrestricted maritime market access as a result of the EU-China Maritime Transport Agreement. Aviation has ‘open skies’. Shipping now has ‘open seas.’

Under the pact, concluded in Brussels on Dec. 6, 2002 — international agreements cannot be rushed — international cargo transport and logistics operators may extend branches that provide door-to-door multi-modal services.

European Commission Vice-President Jacques Barrot in a letter to the Chinese Minister for Communications, Li Shenglin, said, ‘The agreement has strengthened our maritime relations and cooperation. These close ties have been beneficial for the development of trade and economic activities, not only between China and the EU but also with the world at large.’

He also said that the accord would mean increased investment in all segments of maritime transport, and it would also boost cooperation in matters as important as maritime safety and environmentally sustainable shipping.

Both sides would also increase investment in ports and logistics infrastructure to avoid costly congestion.

About 90% of world trade is seaborne, and both the EU and China are major participants in maritime affairs. EU shipping companies control more than 40% of the world fleet, and China is the EU’s second largest trading partner.
Source: China View

Dalian Port, the largest port company specializing in oil products and liquefied chemicals in northeastern China, is planning a domestic listing for as early as 2009.

As part of this move to be a listed company Dalian Port plans to increase its capital expenditure to US$140 million.

However, the listing is not yet definitive. Jiang Luning, general manager of Dalian Port, said A-share listing is possible but not definite because it will depend on the market situation and other factors.

With its investment Dalian Port plans to build 12 more crude oil storage tanks, which will have a total capacity of one to 1.2 million tonnes.

The firm expects its production of crude oil and refined oil to rise 10% this year. Last year it produced about 33.4 million tonnes.
Source: CargoNews Asia

The Economist with a major article — not all totally complimentary — on the galloping pace of building and expansion in China.

Some examples of growth.

Beijing’s new airport terminal, seen here during construction, was designed by the British firm Foster + Partners, and planned and built in four years by an army of 50,000 workers.

The terminal is 3km (1.8 miles) long. The floor space is 17% bigger than all the terminals at London’s Heathrow combined (including about-to-open Terminal Five). Part of a $3.8 billion expansion, which included the opening of a third runway in October, it is due to open at the end of this month, weeks ahead of schedule.

It is the ninth busiest airport in the world.

And it is part of the rush to improve China’s logistics infrastructure.

Between 2001 and the end of 2005 more was spent on roads, railways and other fixed assets than was spent in the previous 50 years. According to the state media, investment will see double-digit growth every year for the rest of the decade.

The world’s longest sea-crossing bridge is due to open in June: a 36km six-lane highway across Hangzhou Bay.
Shanghai is home to the current world-record holder for such a structure, the 32km Donghai bridge. This was opened less than three years ago to link the city with Yangshan port.
Yangshan is intended to be one of the world’s biggest deep-water facilities when completed at some point after 2010.
From August the 115km journey from Beijing to Tianjin, its nearest port, will be reduced to half an hour with the inauguration of a bullet-train link
Work began in January on a 1,300km line between Beijing and Shanghai which will be completed in five years’ time.
The world’s highest railway from Golmud to the Tibetan capital, Lhasa was completed in 2006.
Since the 1990s China has built an expressway network criss-crossing the country that is second only to America’s interstate highway system in length. By the end of 2007, some 53,600km of toll expressways had been built. The aim is to have 70,000km of expressways by 2020.
The World Bank says that China’s railways carry 25% of the world’s railway traffic on just 6% of its track length. In the past couple of years investment has grown considerably. This year’s target is $42 billion, compared with a total of $72 billion in the preceding five years.
The increase in air passenger traffic has been dramatic: from 7 million passengers in 1985 to over 185 million in 2007.
Source: The Economist

APL has new service where if a container does not reach its destination in the United States by the specified date there is a 20% refund.

This is probably the first day-definite, full-container-load service from Asia to virtually any US destination.

APL Logistics calls it APL Guaranteed Continental service and it connects the ports of Shanghai, Hong Kong, Chiwan, and Yantian with virtually any ZIP code in the continental US.
If it is a full-container load then it gets there on the specified date or the shippers get a 20% refund.

APL Logistics started something like this in August 2006 with OceanGuaranteed – the idea being a guaranteed service which was cost-effective, expedited surface alternative to airfreight.

APL Logistics said its new service will provide the industry’s fastest transit times between key ports in China and customers’ US locations. In some cases this will be as little as 15 days.
Source: Eye for Transport