Freight Forwarding in China2839220
Latest figures show that China has now overtaken Japan as the second largest 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 global downturn in trade in current years. However, even with the global slowdown, there was some development in China's freight transport infrastructure in 2009, as it anticipated this improvement in performance and planned for development in demand for freight solutions. China's response to the global economic downturn has been to seize the initiative and plan 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 nation. 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 more keenly that in the box visitors trade. China's two largest 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 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 own domestic slowdown, the volume declines have been evident in each inbound and outbound containers.Inbound cargo includes raw materials and components, which are then processed into finished goods for export at factories in the southern Guangdong, China's economic powerhouse. The high level of import of raw materials 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 effect 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 numerous a shipping company. Domestic demand has generally been seen in elevated trade in cargo from the south of China to the North.In common, the benefits of domestic freight transport have been skilled much more in the Shanghai, northern ports such as Quingdao and Tianjin and the smaller sized ports, as they handle a bigger proportion of domestic trade by shipping businesses.
Nevertheless, spurred on by the impact 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 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 financial rise, as a lack of direct transportation hyperlinks with China undermined its position and importance for the freight company.
A deal between the two former political rivals has renewed Chinese interest in the port, driving investment plans. Shipping companies previously made costly detours through third nations to get cargo from one side to the other. So the new direct shipping hyperlinks will make freight transport more streamlined and cost efficient.
Other initiatives related to the freight services industry have also taken shape during the period of financial slowdown, putting China in a much better position as the recovery arrives.
1 interesting initiative has been a joint venture between America's CYBRA Corporation and Important West Technologies which have joined forces with the Chinese Transport Ministry's Water borne Transportation Institute (WTI) to develop 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 create higher consignment visibility in maritime shipping. CYBRA, which is a developer and distributor of bar code software program for IBM, will join its partners in developing the world's only genuine finish-to-end global tracking and monitoring answer for the freight services business.
As world leader in exports, despite the slowdown, China is therefore 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 indeed every freight business, permitting them to add worth to their service. The smart technology will enable each piece of cargo to be tracked, monitored and managed anyplace in the world.
