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Source: NY Times
Until mid-2008, the main worries for most port operators were congestion and a lack of infrastructure to cope with growing demand.
Now, with shipping companies trying to save money by minimizing port calls, operators also face leaner times.
Jesper Kjaerdegaard, a partner at the maritime consulting firm Mercator International in London, said that while European ports’ volumes were down an average of 10 percent last year, their longer-term contracts and strong profit margins had allowed them to “take a breather” by slowing expansion and postponing projects.
“By the fourth quarter of 2008, we realized the world had changed, as container volumes through ports fell steeply,” said Tom Boyd, communications director at The Hague for APM Terminals, a unit of A.P. Moller-Maersk of Denmark. “The port industry had to quickly shift gears, and in 2009 operators went into cost-control mode and renegotiated, postponed or canceled development projects.”
APM runs 49 ports and is one of the four biggest operators, alongside Hong Hutchison Ports, based in Hong Kong; PSA of Singapore; and DP World of Dubai. All have been restructuring and delaying or canceling new projects. DP World has the added headache of a complex debt renegotiation. The ports themselves are mostly controlled by governments and the local authorities.
Hervé Cornede, commercial director of the port of Le Havre in France, said volumes had fallen about 15 percent in 2009 from a year earlier. “Everybody’s losing business,” he said. “The situation is very unstable. We think the recovery will be in 2011.”
Among the largest ports in Europe, Le Havre has frozen fees and does not expect an increase this year, while it is simplifying its fee structure. It hopes that a project to revitalize the Paris region will help it to expand by adding canal traffic between Paris and the English Channel via Rouen.
Of the major European ports, Hamburg is suffering most, battered by the deep recession in the Baltics and the decision by some liners, notably Maersk and MSC of Geneva, to shift to their own terminals at another German port, Bremerhaven.
In the first nine months of last year, Hamburg handled 28 percent less general cargo than a year earlier. In December, it announced lower fees and other initiatives to lift business. It hopes to deepen the River Elbe to accommodate bigger vessels and claw back market share from deeper-water Rotterdam, which has been gaining from Hamburg, Le Havre and Antwerp, Belgium.
In 2009, goods handled by Rotterdam fell to 385 million tons, down 8.5 percent from 2008. “Considering the circumstances, we cannot be dissatisfied,” said Hans Smits, the port authority’s chief executive. Business has been improving since last summer, “and virtually all the investments are going ahead,” he said.
U.S. ports also are sensing a turnaround.
Containerized imports at 10 major U.S. ports are expected to rise, starting in February, breaking 31 months of declines, the National Retail Federation and IHS Global Insight said last month.
“This is starting to look like a clear trend,” said Jonathan Gold, a vice president of the retail group.
In Chinese ports, total cargo handled in the first 10 months of last year rose 7 percent from a year earlier, according to the Ministry of Transport and Communications, although container cargo fell 7.1 percent.
Until mid-2008, the main worries for most port operators were congestion and a lack of infrastructure to cope with growing demand.
Now, with shipping companies trying to save money by minimizing port calls, operators also face leaner times.
Jesper Kjaerdegaard, a partner at the maritime consulting firm Mercator International in London, said that while European ports’ volumes were down an average of 10 percent last year, their longer-term contracts and strong profit margins had allowed them to “take a breather” by slowing expansion and postponing projects.
“By the fourth quarter of 2008, we realized the world had changed, as container volumes through ports fell steeply,” said Tom Boyd, communications director at The Hague for APM Terminals, a unit of A.P. Moller-Maersk of Denmark. “The port industry had to quickly shift gears, and in 2009 operators went into cost-control mode and renegotiated, postponed or canceled development projects.”
APM runs 49 ports and is one of the four biggest operators, alongside Hong Hutchison Ports, based in Hong Kong; PSA of Singapore; and DP World of Dubai. All have been restructuring and delaying or canceling new projects. DP World has the added headache of a complex debt renegotiation. The ports themselves are mostly controlled by governments and the local authorities.
Hervé Cornede, commercial director of the port of Le Havre in France, said volumes had fallen about 15 percent in 2009 from a year earlier. “Everybody’s losing business,” he said. “The situation is very unstable. We think the recovery will be in 2011.”
Among the largest ports in Europe, Le Havre has frozen fees and does not expect an increase this year, while it is simplifying its fee structure. It hopes that a project to revitalize the Paris region will help it to expand by adding canal traffic between Paris and the English Channel via Rouen.
Of the major European ports, Hamburg is suffering most, battered by the deep recession in the Baltics and the decision by some liners, notably Maersk and MSC of Geneva, to shift to their own terminals at another German port, Bremerhaven.
In the first nine months of last year, Hamburg handled 28 percent less general cargo than a year earlier. In December, it announced lower fees and other initiatives to lift business. It hopes to deepen the River Elbe to accommodate bigger vessels and claw back market share from deeper-water Rotterdam, which has been gaining from Hamburg, Le Havre and Antwerp, Belgium.
In 2009, goods handled by Rotterdam fell to 385 million tons, down 8.5 percent from 2008. “Considering the circumstances, we cannot be dissatisfied,” said Hans Smits, the port authority’s chief executive. Business has been improving since last summer, “and virtually all the investments are going ahead,” he said.
U.S. ports also are sensing a turnaround.
Containerized imports at 10 major U.S. ports are expected to rise, starting in February, breaking 31 months of declines, the National Retail Federation and IHS Global Insight said last month.
“This is starting to look like a clear trend,” said Jonathan Gold, a vice president of the retail group.
In Chinese ports, total cargo handled in the first 10 months of last year rose 7 percent from a year earlier, according to the Ministry of Transport and Communications, although container cargo fell 7.1 percent.
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