Freight Forwarding in China4166685
Newest 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 international downturn in trade in current years. Nevertheless, 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 plan for a better future for China import.
More than recent years, China has experienced a worldwide decline in demand for Chinese imports and this has of course had a huge influence on the freight services business of the export dependent country. 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 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 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 each 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 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 effect on international freight visitors into China as nicely.
All through 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 business. Domestic demand has generally been seen in elevated 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 sized ports, as they deal with a larger proportion of domestic trade by shipping companies.
Nevertheless, spurred on by the influence of the global slowdown on China, Beijing has increased its focus 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 affect international trade and international freight services.
Other initiatives have also helped pave the way for the subsequent 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 links 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 companies previously made costly detours via third countries to get cargo from one side to the other. So the new direct shipping hyperlinks will make freight transport much more streamlined and price effective.
Other initiatives associated to the freight services industry have also taken shape during the period of financial slowdown, placing China in a better position as the recovery arrives.
1 fascinating 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 create smart 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 genuine end-to-end global tracking and monitoring solution for the freight solutions industry.
As world leader in exports, despite the slowdown, China is thus taking a leadership role in supply chain tracking, monitoring and management. It is believed that in the future, safe inter modal freight transport will rely on smart technologies. China's role in facilitating the commercialisation of such goods will be of great benefit to shipping companies and indeed each freight company, permitting them to add value to their service. The smart technology will enable each piece of cargo to be tracked, monitored and managed anyplace in the world.
