Freight Forwarding in China3161219
Latest figures show that China has now overtaken Japan as the second biggest economy in the world following Japan.
This improvement in the relative performance of China is encouraging news to the freight forwarding sector in China, that has been battling with the international downturn in trade in recent years. However, even with the global slowdown, there was some growth in China's freight transport infrastructure in 2009, as it anticipated this improvement in performance and planned for development in demand for freight services. China's response to the international economic downturn has been to seize the initiative and strategy for a better future for China import.
More than current years, China has experienced a worldwide decline in demand for Chinese imports and this has of course had a huge influence on the freight solutions business of the export dependent country. Demand for China imports such as toys, furnishings and textiles has been dampened by the most severe economic downturn in decades.
Nowhere has the decline in demand for China imports been felt much more keenly that in the box traffic trade. China's two largest container ports are Shanghai and Shenzhen. The throughput figures at both have seen year on year falls and the throughput figures mask an even worse overall performance in terms of laden containers. The Shenzhen port figures for freight forwarding are a direct reflection of manufacturing in the Pearl River Delta.
As imports to China have also declined as a outcome of its personal domestic slowdown, the volume declines have been evident in both inbound and outbound containers.Inbound cargo includes raw materials and elements, which are then processed into finished goods for export at factories in the southern Guangdong, China's financial powerhouse. The high level of import of raw materials for subsequent processing and export means that the freight solutions sector in China has had a double whammy, as declines in manufacturing due to decreased demand for China import has a direct knock on impact on international freight traffic into China as well.
Throughout this tough period, domestic demand in China has accounted for some increases in domestic container trade, and this has been welcome news for many a shipping business. Domestic demand has generally been seen in increased trade in cargo from the south of China to the North.In common, the benefits of domestic freight transport have been skilled more in the Shanghai, northern ports such as Quingdao and Tianjin and the smaller sized ports, as they handle a larger proportion of domestic trade by shipping businesses.
Nevertheless, spurred on by the impact of the international slowdown on China, Beijing has increased its concentrate on enhancing the international freight transport infrastructure. The China government has spearheaded a raft of initiatives. This consists of both physical upgrades and revisions to the systems that impact international trade and international freight services.
Other initiatives have also helped pave the way for the subsequent upturn, such as new direct shipping links between China and Taiwan. Kaohsiung in Taiwan, which was the world's third busiest container port in the 1990s,saw its ranking slip with China's financial rise, as a lack of direct transportation hyperlinks with China undermined its position and importance for the freight company.
A deal in between the two former political rivals has renewed Chinese interest in the port, driving investment plans. Shipping businesses previously made pricey detours via third countries to get cargo from 1 side to the other. So the new direct shipping hyperlinks will make freight transport much more streamlined and price efficient.
Other initiatives related to the freight solutions industry have also taken shape throughout the period of economic slowdown, putting China in a much better position as the recovery arrives.
1 fascinating initiative has been a joint venture between America's CYBRA Corporation and Key West Technologies which have joined forces with the Chinese Transport Ministry's Water borne Transportation Institute (WTI) to create and manufacture container tracking devices for international freight. A joint venture, Beijing Intelligent Shipping Technologies (SST),has been set up to develop intelligent shipping container devices and other intelligent transport tools to create greater consignment visibility in maritime shipping. CYBRA, which is a developer and distributor of bar code software for IBM, will join its partners in developing the world's only genuine end-to-end international tracking and monitoring answer for the freight services industry.
As globe leader in exports, despite the slowdown, China is therefore taking a leadership function in supply chain tracking, monitoring and management. It is believed that in the future, safe inter modal freight transport will rely on intelligent technologies. China's role in facilitating the commercialisation of such goods will be of fantastic benefit to shipping companies and certainly every freight business, allowing them to add value to their service. The intelligent technologies will enable each piece of cargo to be tracked, monitored and managed anywhere in the globe.
