Hutchison volumes down at Hong Kong and Shenzhen

Container handling volumes at Hutchison Port Holdings Trust’s (HPH) deep-water ports decreased by 8% in the first three months of 2016 as global economic problems and shipping alliance alignments hurt the company’s business.

Combined throughput at its HIT, COSCO-HIT and ACT facilities in Hong Kong dropped by 13% year-on-year to 2.5m teu while throughput at Yantian International Container Terminals (YICT) in Shenzhen decreased by 1% to 2.7m teu.

According to the company, volumes were affected by the economic performance of the US and Europe, with the drop in HIT’s throughput mainly due to weaker intra-Asia and transhipment cargoes.