The Port of Hong Kong registered a lower annual traffic last year, processing 22.2 million twenty-foot equivalent units (TEUs), a decrease of 0.3% from 2013 and the third successive year of decline for the maritime hub.
Contributing to the slide was the massive strike at the port’s largest terminal operator Hutchison Port Holdings’ Hongkong International Terminals, and the severe congestion at the Kwai Chung terminals as the hub took a longer time processing the arrival of mega ships.
The Kwai Chung terminals suffered its fifth straight month of decline in December last year with a 10 percent drop year-over-year.
Kaohsiung port throughput grows 6.6%
On the other hand, Kaohsiung port of Taiwan posted a 6.6% rise in container volumes with 10.59 million TEUs recorded for 2014 compared to 9.94 million TEUs handled the preceding year.
Kaohsiung Harbor Bureau data showed that the port hit its 2014 goal of 10.4 million TEUs, mainly due to the improving global and local economies that propelled a 7.5% growth in import and export cargo shipments. Meanwhile, transshipments accelerated 5.6% year-on-year with strong Southeast Asia and North America volume flows.
Wharf improvements to enable docking by the big ships also helped to boost container traffic.
Looking at 2015, Kaohsiung port is eyeing throughput expansion of 3% to 3.5%, as it gears for the completion of other terminal upgrading works that may slow production and necessitate the transfer of some services to other ports in Taiwan.
Japan’s ports to do relatively well
Meanwhile, Japan ports are expected to do moderately well in 2015 despite the country’s cooling economy.
Business Monitor International (BMI) in its latest forecast said the port of Nagoya will lead the way with tonnage growth of 3% to reach 219.185mn tonnes, up from 2014’s estimated 2.1% growth rate.
Box traffic at the same port will grow by 2.8% to 2.857 million TEUs, up from an estimated 2.6% growth in the preceding year.
Among the other seaports, Tokyo will remain Japan’s largest container terminal and will also fare well, with tonnage growth of 2% and box handling up by 3.8% to 4.565 million TEUs in 2015, up from an estimated 1% growth in 2014.
The port of Yokohama will see a 2.7% tonnage growth in 2015, and 1.5% container growth to 2.966 million TEUs.
Photo: Photnart
