Sea container traffic through Shenzhen rose 28 percent in 2004, buoyed by China's strong export growth, cementing its position as the world's fourth busiest port and underling the threat it poses to adjacent Hong Kong. The growth rate matches that of rival Shanghai, and comes as Shenzhen continues to take market share from Hong Kong.
Hong Kong remains the world's busiest container port with more than 20 million TEUs handled per year, but has become a costlier option than Shenzhen for the world's ocean transport fleet.
Shenzhen, which counts Beijing-backed China Merchants Holdings, Hutchison Whampoa Ltd and Wharf (Holdings) Ltd among its investors, moved 13.66 million 20-foot equivalent units (TEUs) of goods in the year, a port official told Reuters on Wednesday.
This beat the city's target of 13.5 million TEUs, and made Shenzhen the second busiest port in mainland China after Shanghai.
Shanghai handled 14.55 million TEUs of good in 2004, up 29 percent.
In December alone, Shenzhen moved 1.25 million TEUs compared with 1.20 million TEUs in November and a monthly record of 1.35 million set in September.
However, the growth of city's sea container traffic is expected to slow to about 10-14 percent in 2005 to 15-15.5 million TEUs after rapid growth in the past few years, the official said.
Hong Kong has been losing market shares in the past few years to Shenzhen, where a 40-foot container is US$300 cheaper to process. Shenzhen has 18 professional container berths and is expected to see one to two new berths to come on stream in 2005 in Shekou and Chiwan, the official added.
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