Freight Forwarding in China3299289
Latest figures show that China has now overtaken Japan as the second biggest economy in the world after Japan.
This improvement in the relative overall 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 international slowdown, there was some development in China's freight transport infrastructure in 2009, as it anticipated this improvement in overall performance and planned for development in demand for freight solutions. China's response to the international economic downturn has been to seize the initiative and strategy for a better future for China import.
Over recent years, China has skilled a worldwide decline in demand for Chinese imports and this has of course had a huge impact on the freight services industry of the export dependent country. Demand for China imports such as toys, furnishings and textiles has been dampened by the most serious financial downturn in decades.
Nowhere has the decline in demand for China imports been felt much more keenly that in the box visitors trade. China's two biggest container ports are Shanghai and Shenzhen. The throughput figures at each 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 consists of raw materials and components, which are then processed into completed goods for export at factories in the southern Guangdong, China's economic powerhouse. The higher level of import of raw supplies for subsequent processing and export indicates that the freight services 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 nicely.
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 company. Domestic demand has generally been noticed in elevated trade in cargo from the south of China to the North.In common, the advantages of domestic freight transport have been experienced much more in the Shanghai, northern ports such as Quingdao and Tianjin and the smaller ports, as they deal with a bigger proportion of domestic trade by shipping businesses.
Nevertheless, spurred on by the influence of the international slowdown on China, Beijing has increased its focus on improving the international freight transport infrastructure. The China government has spearheaded a raft of initiatives. This includes each 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 next upturn, such as new direct shipping hyperlinks 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 economic rise, as a lack of direct transportation links with China undermined its position and significance for the freight company.
A deal between the two former political rivals has renewed Chinese interest in the port, driving investment plans. Shipping businesses previously produced costly detours via third countries to get cargo from one side to the other. So the new direct shipping links will make freight transport much more streamlined and cost effective.
Other initiatives associated to the freight services industry have also taken shape during the period of economic slowdown, placing China in a much better position as the recovery arrives.
One interesting initiative has been a joint venture in 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 smart shipping container devices and other smart transport tools to produce 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-finish international tracking and monitoring answer for the freight services industry.
As world leader in exports, regardless of the slowdown, China is thus taking a leadership role in supply chain tracking, monitoring and management. It is believed that in the future, secure inter modal freight transport will rely on intelligent technologies. China's role in facilitating the commercialisation of such goods will be of fantastic advantage to shipping businesses and indeed every freight company, allowing them to add worth to their service. The smart technologies will enable each piece of cargo to be tracked, monitored and managed anywhere in the world.
