The role of Guangdong and Hong Kong as the world’s manufacturing and export powerhouses may be on the wane as China’s inland cities grow into new manufacturing hubs. Weak shipping data for Hong Kong and Shenzhen in the first quarter of this year already show a decline as the world’s leading ports, and an upcoming rail service from central China to Germany could accelerate that fall. Later this year, DB Schenker hopes to gather enough customer interest to start a regular container rail service between China and Germany once or twice per week. Container throughput at the 10 leading Chinese ports grew 12.3% on average in the first two months of this year. By comparison, the container throughput of Shenzhen, the world’s fourth-largest port, rose just 3.6% to 5.1 million TEU, according to the Shenzhen Ports Association, while cargo throughput fell 2.3% to 50.3 million tons in the first quarter. The container throughput of Hong Kong, the world’s third-busiest container port, rose 2.4% to 5.6 million TEU in the first quarter, according to the Hong Kong Port Development Council. “In the coming years, Hong Kong and Guangdong ports will continue to see weak performance because of the shift of factories away from the Pearl River Delta,” said Willy Lin, Chairman of the Hong Kong Shippers’ Council. In contrast, container throughput in Shanghai, the world’s busiest port, jumped 12.3% to 7.3 million TEU in the first quarter, while its cargo throughput rose 9.1% to 111.4 million tons, according to the Shanghai International Port Group, Shanghai’s port operator. Manufacturing in the Yangtze River Delta, served by Shanghai, has not suffered as it has in the Pearl River Delta, because Yangtze River Delta companies ship higher-value, less labor-intensive goods and the factories enjoy economies of scale because they are larger than the Hong Kong-owned factories in the Pearl River Delta, Lin said. Factories in central Chinese cities such as Chongqing and Chengdu will ship goods through Yangtze River ports such as Shanghai and Ningbo, not Hong Kong or Shenzhen.