Ports from north to south in China posted robust growth in their throughput in the first quarter, with several achieving best-in-history results. A Chinese analyst said that the performance is an indication of the resilience of China’s foreign trade and the broader economy, as the government’s incremental policies took hold.
The Port of Guangzhou, the world’s fifth-largest port, said that its first-quarter bulk cargo throughput reached 162.34 million tons and its container throughput hit 6.52 million 20-foot equivalent units (TEUs). The cargo throughput grew 3.2 percent year-on-year while container volume increased by 7.02 percent. Specifically, the throughput of containers bound for overseas markets at the Nansha Port terminal increased by 22.48 percent year-on-year, according to a China News Service report on Tuesday.
Shipments of coal, vehicles, steel and soybeans all posted robust growth at Nansha port terminal, according to the Guangzhou port, which attributed the growth to better integration and coordination with hinterland provinces that use the port as a gateway to overseas trade and the continuous expansion of new shipping routes connecting new global terminals.
The Port of Shenzhen’s export container throughput grew by 19.6 percent year-on-year to 7.88 million TEUs, setting a new record, according to local news portal nfnews.com on Tuesday, citing customs data.
In northern China, Tianjin Port Group’s container throughput increased 5.6 percent year-on-year to 5.71 million TEUs, also a new record, according to the port operator.
The growth was achieved as the port strives to make green and smart upgrades, according to a statement the port operator sent to the Global Times on Tuesday. A smart container terminal control system was launched during the quarter to achieve independent and controllable operations and large language models such as DeepSeek and PortGPT achieved in-depth use as artificial intelligence algorithms enhanced the resilience of port operations.
The results came despite rising global protectionist headwinds since beginning of this year. As an important economic indicator, port operations showcase the robustness of China’s production activity and foreign trade, and the ports play a significant role in maintaining the stability of the global supply chain, experts said.
Zheng Ping, chief analyst at industry news portal chineseport.cn, told the Global Times on Tuesday that supply-side improvement in operating efficiency achieved by implementing smart technologies and merchants’ frontloading of foreign trade goods in anticipation of tariffs lay behind the rise in container throughput.
The growth also underscored the resilience of China’s foreign trade but more efforts are needed to navigate uncertainties ahead amid the current complex global trade landscape, Zheng said.
On April 2, the US announced that it would impose tariffs on goods from more than 180 countries and regions worldwide.
WTO chief Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala recently said that new tariffs announced by the US along with those introduced at the start of the year could lead to a contraction of about 1 percent in global merchandise trade volume in 2025, according to Reuters.
Since November, China’s Ministry of Commerce has unveiled a slew of policy measures to promote the steady growth of foreign trade and consolidate the economic recovery.
Specific measures include encouraging insurance companies to increase underwriting support for “little giant” and “hidden champion” firms to expand to diversified markets and urging banking institutions to continuously optimize financial services for foreign trade enterprises in areas such as credit approval, loan disbursement and repayment.
China’s logistics industry continued to improve in the first two months, with its value reaching 56.3 trillion yuan ($7.7 trillion), up 5.3 percent, according to data from the China Federation of Logistics and Purchasing on March 30. The industry’s market scale keeps expanding amid structural adjustment with new growth points emerging in areas such as multimodal transportation, per a commentary accompanying the data.
Source: Global Times