According to statistics, the container transportation market in 2020 decreased by 0.8%. This is less than the market average drop of 1.2%.
This data was obtained from the analysis of the main operators of port container terminals (21 companies in total).
These companies currently control almost half of the market (49%).
For comparison: in 2015 the figure was 45.6%.
Thus, we are witnessing a gradual increase in the share of large companies in the market, displacing other players from it.
The corporation from China China Merchants Ports was able to demonstrate a significant increase in its participation in world container transportation: its turnover grew by 13.4% at once.
Will container transportation continue to develop further?
According to experts’ forecasts, additional development of this industry can be expected in the next few years.
According to the consulting company Drewry, the total capacity of container ports will grow by 2.5% every year, at least until 2025.
In this case, after 4 years, it can reach 1.3 million TEU (twenty-foot containers) per year.
At the same time, most likely, demand for containerized cargo transportation by sea will also grow.
Experts expect that it will continue to grow at a fairly rapid pace: about 5% per year.
Logically, this will also cause an increase in the load of sea terminals that provide container transportation.
It is assumed that in the coming years, loading of such terminals will increase from 67% to 75%.
At the same time, the Drewry company warns about the danger of further loading of terminals. To ensure that such a level of loading does not lead to queues and congestion during loading and unloading operations, the operation of the terminals must be ideally thought out and debugged.
But this, unfortunately, is not currently observed: in many ports today, supply chains are disrupted. With a simultaneous increase in the load on terminals, this can really become a source of big problems in the not too distant future.
That is why, according to leading analysts at Drewry, today is the time to introduce technologies that could streamline and speed up the process of cargo passing through the terminal.
Digital technologies, such as blockchain, may well come to the rescue.
While this implies costs, the return on investment can be high as terminal operators increase their throughput and transshipment volumes — while additional capacity and assets, apart from digitalization costs, will not have to be raised.
