Freight Forwarding in China9360457
Latest figures show that China has now overtaken Japan as the second largest 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 performance and planned for growth in demand for freight services. China's response to the international economic downturn has been to seize the initiative and plan for a better future for China import.
More than recent years, China has skilled a worldwide decline in demand for Chinese imports and this has of course had a massive influence on the freight solutions business of the export dependent country. 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 much more keenly that in the box traffic 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 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 each inbound and outbound containers.Inbound cargo consists of 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 materials 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 visitors into China as nicely.
All through 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 company. Domestic demand has generally been noticed in increased trade in cargo from the south of China to the North.In common, the benefits 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 companies.
However, spurred on by the impact of the international 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 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 company.
A deal in between the two former political rivals has renewed Chinese interest in the port, driving investment plans. Shipping companies previously produced costly detours via third countries to get cargo from 1 side to the other. So the new direct shipping links will make freight transport much more streamlined and cost efficient.
Other initiatives related to the freight solutions industry have also taken shape throughout the period of economic slowdown, putting China in a much better position as the recovery arrives.
One interesting initiative has been a joint venture 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 develop 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 smart transport tools to create greater 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 genuine end-to-finish global tracking and monitoring answer for the freight services business.
As world leader in exports, despite the slowdown, China is thus taking a leadership function in provide chain tracking, monitoring and management. It is believed that in the future, safe inter modal freight transport will rely on intelligent technologies. China's function in facilitating the commercialisation of such goods will be of great benefit to shipping companies and certainly every freight company, permitting them to add value to their service. The intelligent technology will enable every piece of cargo to be tracked, monitored and managed anyplace in the world.
