Record volumes for Chinese ports

According to official figures released recently, China’s busiest port processed a record amount of goods in January, as companies rushed to get their products onto ships before US tariffs kicked in and ahead of a long local holiday.

That made interesting reading for the U-Freight Group with our comprehensive network of multimodal freight and logistics services for the Chinese market, and numerous logistics hubs across the country.

The reports indicate that Shanghai’s port processed a record five million containers in January, well above any previous month in data going back to 2007.

Last year, the port was the first globally to process over 50 million containers in one year, as rising global demand, falling Chinese prices, and the threat of tariffs combined to push the value of exports to a record.  

Chinese firms shipped almost USD525 billion worth of goods directly to the US last year, the third-highest tally on record.

The data shows that nearby Ningbo port also saw a spike in cargo. It reported 59 million tons in foreign trade processed at the port last month.

Despite the record, trade flows slowed in the last week of January and the first week of February, according to separate government data, as companies shut down for more than a week during the Lunar New Year holiday.  

Work restarted at some businesses late last week, but there won’t be any official trade data released until early March, as the government combines the first two months of data to smooth out the volatility around the holiday.

For more information about the U-Freight Group’s international freight and logistics services to and from China, as well as our comprehensive network of offices in the country, visit the relevant pages on this website, or speak to your usual contact in our company.