Global container port demand rising

Drewry’s latest five-year global container port demand forecast is 4.3% per annum, up from last year. The maritime consultancy made the announcement in its summary of the key trends and developments in the global container port and terminal industry. Projected port capacity expansion is 2.7% per annum, so average utilisation levels will rise, said Drewry. Neil Davidson, senior analyst ports and terminals at Drewry, pointed out, however, that there is a strong focus on optimisation of existing facilities as opposed to building new ones and that terminal operators are focusing on cost control and efficiency to maintain project margins. Drewry’s latest assessment of port throughput indices showed that the global index fell in September 2017 but was 10 points up on September 2016 and 12 points up on 2015. Mr Davidson said that the growth rate in 2017 showed a sustained upward trend. North America and Latin America showed the highest annual increases, 12.6 and 11.1 respectively, while Europe had the lowest increase at 4.4%. The top five global terminal operators were calculated as being PSA International, Hutchinson Ports, DP World, APM Terminals and China Cosco Shipping. According to BIMCO, the worlds largest international shipping association, container shipping has shown strong growth forecasts supported by equal demand so far this year,  Source: Port Strategy / Port Technology