Transhipment hubs to coordinate feeder services

Lee believes that this move, due to the benefits of safety, cost, speed and convenience of containerisation, is expected to drive growth in the container ports market in the short to medium term, especially from India where the level of containerisation remains low.

New analysis from Frost & Sullivan Strategic Insights on Asia-Pacific Container Ports Market, finds that the Asia-Pacific container ports handled over 264m teus in 2008, estimating this will reach 378m teus in 2015.

Although total container throughput in the region is likely to decline approximately eight to 12% in 2009 due to the economic crisis, Lee adds that intervention by governments in Asia-Pacific and increased consumer confidence are likely to cushion the impact.