Ports and inland investment can beat congestion.

(From Lloyds List)

Byline: Developing infrastructure at secondary ports could relieve over-stretched neighbours, writes Keith Wallis in Hong Kong

One of the key themes to emerge from the TOC Asia conference was the need to expand port and inland infrastructure and develop second-tier ports in an effort to overcome mounting congestion problems.

Emirates Shipping Line operations vice-president Khawar Ahmad pointed out that while $24bn was earmarked by global container shipping lines for newbuildings last year, just $8.19bn was budgeted by governments and terminal operations for new terminals.

He said that while it typically costs $1,300 to ship a 20 ft container from Shanghai to Antwerp, it costs a further $1,900 to ship the same box from Antwerp to Munich, such is the cost of inland infrastructure.

Obviously, such imbalances are unsustainable some would argue that the rapid growth in container volumes seen over the last few years cannot be sustained, although that is a different issue.

The obvious solution is for ports and operators to take on board Mr Ahmad's argument and develop facilities at secondary ports. It is certainly happening in Asia, where the Port of Tanjung Pelepas was built to compete with nearby Singapore, while in southern China, the ports of Chiwan and Shekou have lured box traffic away from Hong Kong.