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A total of 21.61 million TEUs of containers were traded between coastal ports in China and the U.S. in 2017, accounting for approximately 18.6% of all oceangoing containerized shipments moved to and from China, according to a survey conducted by the Transport Planning and Research Institute (TPRI), a unit under China’s Ministry of Transport (MOT).
The TPRI projects the trade friction between the U.S. and China, which has been going on since the spring of 2018, will have an impact on slightly over 13%, or as much as three million TEUs of shipments. If Washington and Beijing both escalate tariff increases, as such, the research institutes fears the impacts would be even greater.
Containerships to and from the U.S. call 10 major ports in China, but most shipments are handled mainly at the following five ports: Shenzhen, Shanghai, Ningbo-Zhoushan, Qingdao and Xiamen.
Shenzhen, in particular, holds a considerable share of 27% in processing containers to and from the U.S. It is expected that 17% of those to and from the port will be impacted by the U.S.-China trade conflicts. At Shanghai, U.S. containers account for 13.5%, much lower than Shenzhen. Therefore, it is anticipated that just about 2.5% of those will be affected. In contrast, shipments to and from the U.S. hold a share of 32.7% at Xiamen, greater than any other Chinese port. As such, Xiamen is estimated to be influenced notably as well, with 12.9% of those to and from the port to be under the trade friction, second highest to Shenzhen.
By region, exports from the Bohai area to the U.S. are mainly light industry, agricultural and fishery products. Therefore, it is expected that just approximately 400,000 TEUs of containers to and from the area will be impacted. The Yangtze River Delta, which also exports light industry products, is projected to have some 1.2 million TEUs of shipments be affected. On the other hand, 42% of exports from the Pearl River Delta are subject to tariff hikes. As such, around one million TEUs of containers are envisaged to be impacted, much greater than any other compatriot port.
