Freight Forwarding in China5696140
Newest figures show that China has now overtaken Japan as the second biggest 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. Nevertheless, even with the international 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 global economic downturn has been to seize the initiative and strategy for a better future for China import.
More than current years, China has experienced a worldwide decline in demand for Chinese imports and this has of course had a massive influence on the freight services business of the export dependent nation. Demand for China imports such as toys, furnishings 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 materials and elements, 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 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 nicely.
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 generally been seen in increased trade in cargo from the south of China to the North.In common, the benefits of domestic freight transport have been experienced more in the Shanghai, northern ports such as Quingdao and Tianjin and the smaller sized 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 concentrate 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 solutions.
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 financial rise, as a lack of direct transportation hyperlinks with China undermined its position and importance 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 costly detours via third countries to get cargo from one side to the other. So the new direct shipping links will make freight transport more streamlined and price effective.
Other initiatives associated to the freight solutions industry have also taken shape throughout the period of financial slowdown, putting China in a better position as the recovery arrives.
1 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 Intelligent Shipping Technologies (SST),has been set up to develop smart 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 genuine finish-to-finish international tracking and monitoring solution for the freight services business.
As globe 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, secure inter modal freight transport will depend on smart technologies. China's function in facilitating the commercialisation of such goods will be of great benefit to shipping companies and certainly each freight company, permitting them to add value to their service. The smart technology will allow every piece of cargo to be tracked, monitored and managed anywhere in the globe.
