Freight Forwarding in China6651776
Newest figures show that China has now overtaken Japan as the second biggest economy in the world following 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. Nevertheless, 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 services. China's response to the global economic 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 massive impact on the freight solutions business of the export dependent country. Demand for China imports such as toys, furniture and textiles has been dampened by the most serious economic downturn in decades.
Nowhere has the decline in demand for China imports been felt more keenly that in the box traffic 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 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 consists of raw supplies and components, which are then processed into finished goods for export at factories in the southern Guangdong, China's financial powerhouse. The higher level of import of raw supplies for subsequent processing and export means 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.
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 common, 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 handle 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 focus on enhancing 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 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 businesses previously made costly detours via third countries to get cargo from 1 side to the other. So the new direct shipping hyperlinks will make freight transport more streamlined and cost effective.
Other initiatives related to the freight solutions business have also taken shape during the period of economic slowdown, placing China in a 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 develop 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 intelligent 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 creating the world's only real finish-to-finish global tracking and monitoring solution for the freight services industry.
As globe leader in exports, regardless of the slowdown, China is thus taking a leadership function 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 products will be of great advantage to shipping businesses and certainly every freight business, allowing them to add value to their service. The smart technology will enable every piece of cargo to be tracked, monitored and managed anyplace in the globe.
