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Nansha: aiming to be south China’s freight hub
A trio of recent infrastructure developments position China’s Nansha port for growth
Guangzhou’s main container port Nansha is growing rapidly, with a trio of new developments strengthening its position.
A new container terminal, on-dock rail and a huge warehouse development are all key to Nansha’s expansion. Terminal 4, which has a capacity for 5M TEU, was opened in 2022. Guangzhou Port (Europe) chief executive Johan Nanninga emphasises the importance of it being fully automated.
“We needed to get on the learning curve of automated terminals as they will be the future for ports. Because while connectivity and capacity are very important, you might not find the people to operate these ports, so there is a need to be become less labour intensive.”
In March 2022, the port opened its on-dock rail, which is growing “tremendously”. In its first nine months, the rail shifted 200,000 TEU, and in 2023 surpassed 300,000 TEU. “Connectivity to the hinterlands is becoming more and more important, both on the consumer side and on the production side. There has been a shift from the coastal areas to the inland areas, and we are accessing these areas by weekly train connections,” says Mr Nanninga.
Indeed, Nansha now has the first rail station at a rail terminal in south China.
The third piece of the puzzle is developing Nansha’s temperature-controlled warehouse – the largest in China – and large reefer yard. This is integral to Nansha’s plans to develop its reefer business.
“Reefer plugs in China are in demand and now we have so much capacity and our warehouse, we are trying to position ourselves as the temp-controlled hub for south China,” Mr Nanninga explains.
Traditionally, Hong Kong acts as a reefer hub for south China business. But Mr Nanninga points out, “We can move this traditional Hong Kong business to Nansha, as getting to China via Hong Kong adds costs to the supply chain. We now have the infrastructure and can distribute to the south China Market. This is an important strategic development.”
And it is not just reefer business which Nansha is winning from Hong Kong – the terminal is taking general market share from the latter port.
Describing the background, Mr Nanninga says, “The trend of the last 10 years is that Yantian has established itself as a market leader in the Pearl River Delta, and the other Shenzhen terminals are moving to be regional ports as they are struggling with growth due to the city encroaching on operations. Meanwhile, Nansha is taking market share from Hong Kong. Hong Kong has increasingly become a transhipment port while south China cargo is now going directly to ports such as Nansha. This offers big savings over moving volumes via Hong Kong.”
Mr Nanninga highlights one of the main challenges for ports in China as being the world economy. But despite this, Nansha’s volumes for the first eight months of last year show a slight increase despite a downfall in east-west trades and the Transpacific generally.
Explaining how the port has manged to increase its cargo volumes, Mr Nanninga singles out the importance of a well spread-out portfolio for different trades. “As well as Europe and America, Nansha has a big chunk of Africa trades and is getting a lot of intra-Asia volumes. We are less dependent on the big trades.”
Nansha’s trio of recent infrastructural developments put the port well on its way to becoming the freight hub for the south of China.
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