Shenzhen is set to overtake Hong Kong as the world’s third-busiest container port this year for the first time ever on an annual basis. This comes as total box volumes through Shenzhen’s four main facilities have continued to climb despite the downturn in global trade. By comparison, volumes through Hong Kong have dropped, especially from river trade and barge business. Hong Kong is set to handle about 23.2 million TEU  this year, based on throughput figures between January and October. The full-year estimates take into account the expected slack trade season in November and December. Jon Windham, head of Asian industrials equity research at Barclays in Hong Kong, forecast the port would handle 23.5 million TEU in 2012. By comparison he thought Shenzhen would pull past Hong Kong to handle 25 million TEU. Alan Lee, head of the Hong Kong Container Terminal Operators Association, said Shenzhen would certainly overtake Hong Kong next year if it failed to do so this year. Lee pointed out that Hong Kong had technically lost the No 3 spot for several years because 60% of Hong Kong’s container volume is transshipment cargo. As a result each container is counted twice. He said container traffic through Shenzhen, Guangzhou and other south China ports are “practically all direct shipments”, meaning each container is only counted once. Latest figures from the Port Development Council show Hong Kong handled 19.4 million TEU in the first 10 months of 2012, down 4.4% compared with the same period last year. While container volumes grew by a marginal 0.8% to 14.6 million TEU at the nine Kwai Chung container terminals between January and October, throughput slumped 17.2% to 4.8 million TEU at facilities outside Kwai Chung. Windham forecast that Shanghai would remain the world’s top container port this year, handling 34.9 million TEU, while Singapore would be in the No 2 spot with 31.6 million TEU, the South China Morning Post reports.

The Shanghai Shipping Exchange began publishing China’s first dry bulk and oil tanker indexes based on prices collected from charters, brokers and shipowners. “We aim to introduce a complete set of freight indexes that could cover all the major commodities that China buys and sells, so that companies could easily find their own reference,” Exchange President Zhang Ye said. The bourse already runs container-shipping indexes, which are closely watched given China’s role as a major exporter of goods such as toys and garments. The new indexes may improve China’s say in global shipping markets and are seen as a challenge to the Baltic Dry Index (BDI). Jeremy Penn, Baltic Exchange Chief Executive, said he regretted Shanghai’s decision to create the new indexes, saying the London bourse already provided benchmarks for the majority of routes Shanghai proposed to cover. But Zhang said the Shanghai exchange was not aimed at challenging the BDI and the new China import-focused indexes would complement those provided by Baltic. “We can’t expect these Shanghai indexes to be a serious rival of the BDI any time soon,” said Bouko de Groot, China Content Manager of maritime intelligence publisher IHS Fairplay. He said the Shanghai exchange should look at more companies and rates for its new indexes so they can be more independent. The bourse said it will initially take data from 23 companies for its dry bulk indexes and 18 firms for the tanker gauge, many of which are state-owned companies such as China Cosco and Sinopec. The oil tanker index will track rates on the Ras Tanura, Saudi Arabia-Ningbo route and from West Africa to Ningbo.

Airlines & airports

• Cathay Pacific Airways said its cargo tonnage increased 1.9% year-on-year to 138,608 tons in October, boosted by the shipment of smartphones and tablets. The rise is “nothing like the really strong peak we might have seen”, Chief Executive John Slosar said. In the first 10 months, cargo volume was down by 7.3% to 1.27 million tons.

Logistics industry

• Hong Kong Financial Secretary John Tsang said cooperation should be enhanced in the logistics industry between Hong Kong and the Chinese mainland to improve efficiency and lower costs. He said the logistics industry is one of the major pillars of Hong Kong’s economy, and that Hong Kong’s experience in the sector could complement the excellent infrastructure and market scale on the mainland. He made the remarks at an industry forum.

Ports & sea transport

• Maersk Line will strengthen its cooperation with Qingdao port, Tim Smith, CEO of Maersk Line North Asia, said. He made a speech at a ceremony to celebrate the fact that the annual container throughput of Maersk Line at Qingdao port for the first time exceeded 1 million TEU. Maersk Line is the first carrier to achieve that number within a single year at the port.
• China Rongsheng Heavy Industries Group Holdings said a new off shore-energy equipment unit may generate 50% of its orders over the next five years amid slumping demand for ships. “There is a need to shift our focus to the offshore and marine business,” Sean Wang, Chief Financial Officer (CFO) of China’s largest private shipbuilder said.
• Over the past decade Sinotrans has grown into a leader in China’s logistics industry with revenues reaching nearly CNY45 billion last year, up from less than CNY14 billion in 2002. Domestic business contributed 12% of the company’s revenue last year, while import-related income accounted for 15%. Today it has eight terminals with a combined capacity to handle more than 41 million tons of goods. They include 89 container yards totaling 2.15 million square meters, 374 warehouses covering a total area of 1.9 million sq m in addition to thousands of vehicles and 140 vessels.

Prof Bart Dessein will hold a lecture on “New Confucianism and the Mandate of Heaven” on December 11, 2012 from 12.00 h till 14.00 h. at the room Rector Blancquaert, Het Pand, Onderbergen 1, Ghent.
Contrary to what is currently customary, this session will not deal with the speed and efficiency with which the “Middle Kingdom” left its Maoist heritage behind, and, in a relatively short period of time, became one of the key actors on the world stage. A closer look at what happens in China shows that intellectual and political leaders are more and more emphasizing the revaluation of, and affiliation with the Confucian tradition. This session will deal with the “Mandate of Heaven” as one of these Confucian concepts, and with the question how the Chinese political and intellectual classes have identified and – so it seems – still identify themselves with this concept. This “Mandate of Heaven” will be addressed chronologically, i.e., in imperial China, the Republican period and the Maoist period, to conclude with a discussion of its current interpretation.

The Flanders-China Chamber of Commerce (FCCC), POM West Flanders, the Province of West Flanders, VOKA and Jones Day organized a conference on “How to protect your trade secrets in China?” on 22 November 2012 at Hotel Messeyne in Kortrijk. Highly experienced attorneys from Jones Day’s China offices provided concrete guidance and shared their insights. Following a word of welcome and a brief introduction by Mrs Gwenn Sonck, Executive Director of the Flanders-China Chamber of Commerce and Serge Clerckx, Partner at Jones Day Brussels, Horace Lam and Sébastien Evrard, Partners at Jones Day Beijing, gave some interesting tips to protect trade secrets in China. Their presentation was followed by and Q&A session and a cocktail and networking session.