Freight Forwarding in China4151077
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 financial downturn has been to seize the initiative and strategy for a much 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 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 financial 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 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 result of its own domestic slowdown, the volume declines have been evident in both inbound and outbound containers.Inbound cargo includes raw materials and components, which are then processed into completed goods for export at factories in the southern Guangdong, China's economic powerhouse. The high level of import of raw supplies for subsequent processing and export indicates 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 effect 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 numerous a shipping company. Domestic demand has generally been noticed in increased trade in cargo from the south of China to the North.In general, the advantages of domestic freight transport have been skilled much more in the Shanghai, northern ports such as Quingdao and Tianjin and the smaller ports, as they deal with a larger proportion of domestic trade by shipping businesses.
However, spurred on by the impact of the global slowdown on China, Beijing has elevated its concentrate on improving 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 solutions.
Other initiatives have also helped pave the way for the subsequent upturn, such as new direct shipping hyperlinks 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 links with China undermined its position and significance for the freight business.
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 nations to get cargo from one 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 business have also taken shape during the period of financial slowdown, placing China in a much better position as the recovery arrives.
1 interesting initiative has been a joint venture in 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 create and manufacture container tracking devices for international freight. A joint venture, Beijing Smart Shipping Technologies (SST),has been set up to develop intelligent 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 real end-to-finish global tracking and monitoring solution for the freight solutions 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 depend on smart technologies. China's role in facilitating the commercialisation of such goods will be of fantastic benefit to shipping businesses and indeed each freight company, allowing them to add value to their service. The smart technologies will enable every piece of cargo to be tracked, monitored and managed anywhere in the globe.
