Shanghai world’s busiest container port

Reuters: Shanghai overtook Singapore as the world’s busiest container port in 2010, helped by continuing growth in Chinese trade and the business generated by the World Expo it hosted last year, the city government said.

Shanghai’s port handled 29.05 million twenty-foot equivalent units (TEUs) in 2010, the municipal government said in a statement on its website, citing a work meeting on turning Shanghai into a global shipping centre.

That compared with the 28.4 million TEUs handled by the Port of Singapore in 2010, which was up 9.9 percent from 2009, according to the Maritime and Port Authority of Singapore.

Shanghai’s cargo throughput rose to around 650 million tonnes in 2010, maintaining its top global spot, according to the statement.

China’s State Council, or cabinet, has set an aim of making Shanghai a leading shipping centre by 2020 -- the same year by which the government hopes the city will become a global financial centre.

Shanghai will continue with a pilot project for export tax rebates, potentially expanding it, and is looking into developing shipping-price derivatives and an index on shipping prices, the city government said.

Shanghai’s port is operated by Shanghai International Port (Group) Co.

Rotterdam Port sees 4-5% container growth in 2011

Reuters: The Port of Rotterdam expects growth of four to five percent in shipping container volumes passing through the terminal, reflecting growth in world trade and a rise in its market share, its Chief Executive said last week.

Hans Smits told Reuters that heavy flooding in northeast Australia had not hit cargo volumes at Rotterdam port, Europe’s biggest, and was not expected to have any impact.

 He said that while the flooding could lead to higher commodity prices, it would not affect Rotterdam’s business because Europe’s steel industry does not depend on Australian imports of iron ore and coal.