Freight Forwarding in China2180482
Newest figures show that China has now overtaken Japan as the second biggest economy in the world after 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 global 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 services. China's response to the international financial downturn has been to seize the initiative and plan for a 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 huge impact on the freight solutions industry 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 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 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 personal domestic slowdown, the volume declines have been evident in both inbound and outbound containers.Inbound cargo includes 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 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 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 business. Domestic demand has usually been noticed in elevated trade in cargo from the south of China to the North.In general, the advantages of domestic freight transport have been skilled more in the Shanghai, northern ports such as Quingdao and Tianjin and the smaller sized ports, as they deal with a bigger proportion of domestic trade by shipping businesses.
However, spurred on by the influence of the international 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 each 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 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 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 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 effective.
Other initiatives related to the freight services business have also taken shape throughout the period of financial slowdown, putting China in a much better position as the recovery arrives.
One interesting initiative has been a joint venture in 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 Smart Shipping Technologies (SST),has been set up to develop 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 program for IBM, will join its partners in creating the world's only genuine end-to-end international tracking and monitoring answer for the freight solutions industry.
As globe leader in exports, despite the slowdown, China is therefore taking a leadership function in provide chain tracking, monitoring and management. It is believed that in the future, safe inter modal freight transport will depend on smart technologies. China's function in facilitating the commercialisation of such goods will be of great advantage to shipping businesses and certainly each freight company, allowing them to add worth to their service. The smart technologies will enable each piece of cargo to be tracked, monitored and managed anywhere in the globe.
