Chinese ports face declining demand

13 April 2020 Total throughput of Chinese ports has decreased by 8%, and by 11% for container shipping volume during the first two months of 2020, partly due to the Coronavirus outbreak. Moreover, China will be...

13 April 2020

Total throughput of Chinese ports has decreased by 8%, and by 11% for container shipping volume during the first two months of 2020, partly due to the Coronavirus outbreak. Moreover, China will be facing a declining demand from the global market for the next few months, in particular from the EU and the US. These are the principal conclusions which freight market analyst Upply derives from port throughput data which the Chinese Ministry of Transport recently released. Whilst all ports showed decreasing figures in the first two months of the year Beibu Gulf Port stood out as the only port with growth in both international trade volume and container shipping. The port is identified as one of the strategic logistics hubs for the New Land-Sea International Trade Corridor, one of China’s Belt and Road projects. The throughput of the port is closely linked to China’s trade with Southeast Asia. In this respect, it is noteworthy that during the first two months of 2020, ASEAN countries for the first time surpassed the EU as China’s largest trading partner. The full analysis can be found on the Upply website.