Container terminal expansion plans must be revived to avoid congestionPost by Cameron Davidson on 7th September 2010 in Shipping, Industry news Expansion plans for container terminals which had been put on hold because of the worldwide recession must be resurrected if congestion is not to return. That is the main conclusion of the latest report into the state of the freight container industry by Drewry Shipping Consultants. Its 2010 report predicted that container traffic will increase by an average of 7.2 per cent a year up to 2015. But the report also forecasts that the capacity of the world’s container shipping terminals will increase by 143 million 20-foot equivalent units (TEUs) in that time, an increase of almost 20 per cent, or just over half of the rate required to keep pace with traffic growth. “The much slower rate of container terminal capacity growth relative to throughput will inevitably increase global container terminal utilisation rates unless more projects are brought back to life,” it said. “Several parts of the world could see the spectre of congestion returning by 2015 if some of the originally planned expansion projects cannot be reactivated within the next three to five years,” Drewry suggested. Neil Davidson, Senior Advisor, Ports for Drewry, said: “The recovery of volumes is quite marked in many locations and it raises the question as to whether capacity plans can be reactivated quickly enough. “This is especially so given that obtaining finance for investments is a much slower and more demanding process than it was,” he added.
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