Freight Forwarding in China1421951
Newest figures show that China has now overtaken Japan as the second largest economy in the globe after 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 global downturn in trade in recent years. Nevertheless, even with the global slowdown, there was some growth in China's freight transport infrastructure in 2009, as it anticipated this improvement in overall performance and planned for development in demand for freight services. China's response to the global financial downturn has been to seize the initiative and plan for a much better future for China import.
Over current years, China has experienced a worldwide decline in demand for Chinese imports and this has of course had a massive influence on the freight services industry of the export dependent nation. Demand for China imports such as toys, furniture 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 visitors trade. China's two biggest container ports are Shanghai and Shenzhen. The throughput figures at both have noticed year on year falls and the throughput figures mask an even worse 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 own domestic slowdown, the volume declines have been evident in each inbound and outbound containers.Inbound cargo includes raw supplies and elements, 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 materials for subsequent processing and export means 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 well.
Throughout this difficult 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 noticed in increased trade in cargo from the south of China to the North.In common, the benefits of domestic freight transport have been experienced more in the Shanghai, northern ports such as Quingdao and Tianjin and the smaller sized ports, as they deal with a larger proportion of domestic trade by shipping companies.
However, spurred on by the influence of the global slowdown on China, Beijing has elevated its concentrate on enhancing the international freight transport infrastructure. The China government has spearheaded a raft of initiatives. This includes both physical upgrades and revisions to the systems that affect international trade and international freight solutions.
Other initiatives have also helped pave the way for the next upturn, such as new direct shipping links in 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 hyperlinks with China undermined its position and importance for the freight business.
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 nations to get cargo from one side to the other. So the new direct shipping links will make freight transport more streamlined and price effective.
Other initiatives related to the freight services industry have also taken shape throughout the period of economic slowdown, putting China in a 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 create intelligent shipping container devices and other intelligent transport tools to produce higher consignment visibility in maritime shipping. CYBRA, which is a developer and distributor of bar code software for IBM, will join its partners in creating the world's only real end-to-finish global 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 provide chain tracking, monitoring and management. It is believed that in the future, secure inter modal freight transport will rely on smart technologies. China's role in facilitating the commercialisation of such goods will be of fantastic advantage to shipping businesses and certainly every freight company, allowing them to add value to their service. The smart technologies will enable each piece of cargo to be tracked, monitored and managed anywhere in the world.
