Shenzhen taking no chances on Hong Kong lead
With cross-border rival edging out the city in port business, Da Chan Bay aims to cement status with terminal expansion
Shenzhen overtook Hong Kong's port business this year in a move that was widely expected, and anyone who thought it was a temporary phenomenon, induced by a labour strike, had better think again.
Da Chan Bay Terminal One, the fastest-growing port in Shenzhen last year, says it wants to triple its throughput over the next three years.
The port, controlled by Wharf's Modern Terminals, expects to see its annual throughput reach 1 million 20-foot equivalent units this year.
It says it has already started talk with the Shenzhen government and Yantian Port on a phase-two terminal that would add four berths of at least 3.5 million teu capacity to the Shenzhen west port cluster before 2020.
"The Shenzhen government said it's time to plan for phase two because it takes five years from the beginning of real discussion to the commissioning of the first berth," said Benjamin Lai, chief executive of Da Chan Bay Terminal One. "You can't wait until your existing capacity is fully utilised."
Terminal One's 5.5 million teu capacity is operating at just one-fifth of capacity so far, but throughput has more than doubled to 742,000 boxes during the first three quarters.
