The construction of global container terminals is in good shape
At present, under the impetus of market demand, countries have a positive attitude towards the construction of container terminals but with different characteristics. The construction of Asian ports is developing steadily, American ports are actively investing in construction, and European ports are strengthening renovation and expansion.
Steady development of port construction in Asia
China continues to steadily promote port construction. Since 2020, under the impact of the epidemic, Chinese industries have played an important supporting role in the global supply chain, and Chinese ports have gradually experienced insufficient supply capacity, especially container hub ports generally have excessive utilization rates. Driven by market demand and supported by policies for infrastructure development, China has increased investment in water transport infrastructure. In 2022, China's water transport fixed asset investment growth rate will reach 9.2%, and a number of container port construction projects such as the Xiaoyangshan North Operation Area Project in the Yangshan Port Area will be steadily and orderly advanced or completed, supporting the high-quality development goals of the port.
Under the pressure of the growth of container export scale in the past two years, Shanghai Port, Ningbo Zhoushan Port and other coastal container hub ports have been operating at full capacity for a long time. In 2022, the port capacity expansion plan of Shanghai Port has made significant progress. The first phase of container transformation in Luojing Port Area will By the end of 2023, it will add 2.6 million TEU handling capacity to Shanghai Port. At the same time, Shanghai and Zhejiang have signed an agreement to ensure the progress of the construction project of the north side of Xiaoyang Mountain. As the project is gradually completed and implemented, it will be linked with the trunk container terminal. It is expected to bring 11.5 million TEU throughput to Shanghai Port in 2035.
In addition, the continuous development trend of China's large container terminals is more obvious: the second "10 million TEU" port area of Ningbo Zhoushan Port has been completed; the first phase of the container terminal in the east operation area of Yantian Port Area of Shenzhen Port will build three new 200,000-ton container terminals The extra-large automated container berth is expected to be completed by the end of 2025; the third phase of the automated wharf project in Qianwan Port Area of Qingdao is also planned to be completed in 2023, with an additional design capacity of 700,000 TEU, and will be connected with the first and second phases of the automated wharf. Scale advantages; Guangzhou Port Nansha Port Phase IV fully automated terminal is officially put into operation, and will promote the semi-automated transformation of Nansha Phase III. At that time, it will form an integrated terminal cluster with the Nansha Port Container Phase I to Phase IV terminals. It is planned to build four 200,000-ton container berths on the east side of Longxue Island.
Container terminal yard
In 2022, the investment in fixed assets of inland waterway transportation will maintain a high growth rate of 10.4%. In 2021, after Taicang Port Container Terminal Phase IV became the first yard automation terminal in the Yangtze River Basin, Hefei Port also entered the unmanned automation deployment test stage with the application of unmanned container handling vehicles. Jining Longgong Port 6#—8# automated container berths Joint testing of equipment has been carried out, Wuhan Yangluo Port will also start a smart transformation project, and a new round of "wharf revolution" has started in inland river ports across the country.
With the rapid upward development of Southeast Asia's economic industry, the demand for international container shipping on ports in Southeast Asia will continue to grow in the past 20 years. Most of the container hub ports in Southeast Asia have put forward their long-term development plans for their ports. The first phase of the Tuas Port in Singapore is expected to be fully completed in 2027; Malaysia plans to increase the handling capacity of Port Klang to 32 million TEU by 2040; Lapas Port will increase its throughput capacity by 3.5 million TEUs by 2025; the long-term planned production capacity of Laem Chabang Port in Thailand will reach 27 million TEUs in 2040 and 34.5 million TEUs in 2050. berths will be commissioned in 2025 and 2029 respectively.
In addition to the steady construction of established international transit hub ports, Southeast Asian countries have also accelerated port development planning and investment plans to promote the development of their own industries. In 2022, Patingban Port in Indonesia signed a container terminal expansion project contract. After completion, it will increase the throughput capacity of 2 million TEUs, which will ease the long-term pressure on container imports and exports borne by the two ports of Tanjung Priok and Tanjung Pera. Cambodia is also accelerating the construction of container ports. The largest port, Sihanoukville Autonomous Port, is undergoing a container terminal construction project (2021-2025), and in 2022 will receive a new concessional loan of US$ 310 million from the Japanese government for expansion and modernization; the third A large-scale multi-functional international port - the Kampot multi-functional international deep-water port project has also officially started, which will include container operation areas, free trade areas, logistics centers and other areas. It is planned that by 2025 and 2030, the container throughput will reach 300,000, 600,000 TEU.
The investment and construction of ports in South Asia remained stable, and India planned to build a large container transshipment terminal. The rapid development of India's low-end manufacturing and foundry industries will increase the demand for container transportation year by year. In order to get rid of India's dependence on overseas transshipment ports, India has proposed to build a large container transshipment terminal in Galathea Bay at a cost of US$5 billion. By 2028 The first phase of the project completed in 2019 is expected to have a throughput capacity of 4 million TEU. Chittagong Port, which undertakes more than 90% of Bangladesh’s import and export trade, continues to actively replenish port capacity. In 2022, the Patenga Container Terminal (PCT), which Chittagong Port invested 240 million U.S. dollars, has been completed and put into operation, and will be operated by Red Sea Gateway Terminal (RSGT). The port added 500,000 TEU of handling capacity.
American ports actively invest in construction
In 2022, U.S. ports will continue to experience supply chain pressure for nearly two years, showing a trend of port congestion shifting from the west coast in the first half of the year to the east coast in the second half of the year. Against this background, the U.S. government’s annual port infrastructure funds will expand. Driven by government funds, U.S. ports will start a wave of port investment and construction in 2022, showing an overall trend of accelerated expansion, and part of the funds are mainly used for cleaning operation equipment renewal and electrification transformation.
At the end of 2021, Biden officially signed the Infrastructure Construction Act (IIJA), in which the five-year plan period and 17 billion US dollars of port infrastructure investment will be gradually implemented in 2022. The Port Infrastructure Development Program (PIDP) of the U.S. Maritime Administration (MARAD) announced in October 2022 that it will allocate more than US$703 million to 41 port construction projects, the highest amount since the establishment of PIDP.
Under the pressure of the supply chain and the guidance of the U.S. central government’s funding policy, major U.S. container hub ports have successively announced new large-scale construction plans, especially in Los Angeles, Long Beach, Savannah, Oakland and other ports that have encountered severe congestion in the past two years. The budget released by the California state government in early 2022 includes a $2.3 billion supply chain resilience budget plan, including $1.2 billion in one-time port construction funds. The plan will be officially released in October and will be divided into two cycles (each $600 million) for Provide financial support for the California Port and Logistics Infrastructure Construction Project. The Port of Savannah (Savannah) announced a plan to invest US$540 million in early 2022 and increase its handling capacity to 9.5 million by 2025. In addition, ports such as Boston, New Orleans, Baltimore, and Jacksonville also have port expansion or new construction plans.
With the easing of the global epidemic situation, countries in Central and South America are actively resuming production, and investment in port construction has gradually increased. At the same time, they have also received a large number of overseas investments from developed countries and economic powers to help these underdeveloped regions build new ports and adapt to the global shipping industry. develop.
In the past two years, it is obvious that the cargo volume in the Americas is shifting to the east. Therefore, the ports in the Americas, especially the ports around the Panama Canal, have adopted different measures to compete for this part of the increased cargo supply. On the one hand, large-scale container terminals are being built in the estuary area of the Panama Canal. For example, Notarc Management Group (NMG), a private investment and asset management company, has completed the acquisition of the special operating rights of the Panama Canal Container Port (PCCP), with a designed throughput capacity of 2.5 million TEUs to 5 million TEUs. On the other hand, it is planning a new logistics solution to replace the Panama Canal. Zergratran, an American transportation infrastructure company, is planning to start a $15 billion container transshipment project in northern Colombia. It will build underground tunnels and use magnetic levitation technology to complete the transportation of containers in northern Colombia. Transfers between Atlantic and Pacific coasts.
A busy container terminal
Brazil, Mexico, Peru and other countries in Central and South America are actively carrying out port investment and construction. The Mexican government plans to build three new container terminals - Mazatlan floating port (Mazatlan port), Coatzacoalcos port (Coatzacoalcos port) and Salina Cruz port (Salina Cruz port), the largest container port in Mexico The Port of Manzanillo in Mexico is also planning to expand. International Container Terminal Services (ICTSI) will invest 230 million US dollars to increase the terminal throughput from the current 1.2 million TEU to 2 million TEU.
Brazil's Ministry of Infrastructure has signed contracts with six private terminal operators to build new terminals and will invest about 1 billion reais (500 million U.S. dollars) in the port sector to help Brazil improve its international trade competitiveness.
In order to promote economic development, the Peruvian government continues to expand the investment of domestic and foreign investors in Peru. DP World Callao's 340 million US dollars expansion project in Muelle Sur, the southern terminal of Callao Port, has been launched in early 2022. After the expansion, the annual handling capacity will reach 190 million. 10,000 TEUs; the Chancay port, which China COSCO Shipping Group invested 3 billion US dollars to build, has also made phased progress and is expected to be completed in 2024.
European ports step up refurbishment and expansion
In the "post-epidemic" era, the vulnerability of the European port supply chain has become increasingly apparent. Problems such as insufficient port resilience, fragile collection and distribution channels, and frequent strikes have emerged one after another. As the impact of the epidemic gradually weakens, European countries have announced port investment and construction. Program to improve port service levels.
Major European container hub ports are actively announcing new investment expansion/construction plans. Congestion in Europe's three major basic ports was particularly severe during the epidemic, so they invested in expansion to enhance port capacity and improve logistics channels: Rotterdam plans to build a new terminal, which will be built by Mediterranean Shipping (MSC)'s terminal investment company TIL and Hutchison Port. Port of Europahaven (Europahaven) to jointly develop a new container terminal (estimated 6-7 million TEU passing capacity, opening in 2027); after the merger of Antwerp-Bruges Port, actively promote the construction of port transportation channels, which will cost 335 million euros in three parts over 9 years Renovate and expand the Europa terminal in phases, improve and enhance the terminal's passing capacity, so that it can berth large container ships; the huge project of the Elbe River and the Outer Elbe River in the Port of Hamburg has been completed, but there is no new terminal investment and construction plan in 2022.
In addition to the three basic ports, other major container hub ports in Northwest Europe also have investment plans. Bremerhaven announced its expansion and upgrading plan, but it is still in the planning period. The expansion terminal will be designed with reference to the current largest container ship. Construction starts in 2026; TIL announced an investment of 700 million euros (about 709 million U.S. dollars) in the TPO and TNMSC container terminals in the French port of Le Havre, making the port a gateway to Northwest Europe.
Gdansk consolidates its status as a container hub port in the Baltic Sea region. From 2021, Gdansk will overtake St. Petersburg Port to become the largest container port in the Baltic Sea region, and it is still under continuous expansion. In November 2022, the construction of DCT Gdansk's third deep-water terminal (T3) project will be launched, with a planned investment of 2.45 billion U.S. dollars, and the throughput capacity will reach 4.5 million TEU after completion in 2025. The geographical location of the Port of Gdansk makes it a gateway port to Central and Eastern Europe and a transshipment center in the Baltic Sea. With rapid growth in throughput and active investment in construction, it is expected that it will be among the top ten container ports in Europe.
The Mediterranean transshipment hub port actively promotes the expansion of container ports. Tangier MedPort will become the largest container hub port in the Mediterranean region in 2020, and the automated terminal APM Terminals MedPort Tangier is still in the expansion and development period. The second and third phases of the expansion project are expected to be put into operation in 2024 and 2025 respectively. Add 2.1 million TEU capacity to the port. The Port of Valencia, Spain plans to invest 1.4 billion euros in the construction of a new container terminal on the north side of the existing container terminal. It will be built with the goal of "the most environmentally friendly terminal in the world". It is planned to complete the construction by 2030 and increase the throughput capacity by 5 million TEU.