Developments in Container Port Competition in East Asia

The ports of Hong Kong, Busan and Kaohsiung have long dominated container handling in East Asia. However, the emergence of new transhipment and gateway hub candidates, which include Shanghai, Shenzhen, Kwangyang and Qingdao, among others, will vie with these incumbents for a greater share of container traffic. Some might even unseat the incumbents. This study finds, through evidences from container shipping services connecting the region to major markets and trade routes between 1995 and 2001, that Mainland Chinese ports are increasingly attractive as direct ports of call for mainline services. The evidence also suggests that new services started by mainline operators calling at Mainland China are bypassing Japanese and Taiwanese ports. Nonetheless, these services continue to call at Hong Kong. Although the composition of containers handled at Mainland Chinese ports consists largely of gateway cargo, these ports are expected to handle a rising share of transhipment traffic.