China-US Trade Disputes: NE China's largest port still sees profit growth

World
Europe

02:48

While the US and Mexico may have reached a deal, the trade war between China and the US is still ongoing. CGTN's GUAN YANG takes us to the largest port in northeastern China to find out whether the extension of China-US trade disputes has affected business there.

In China's northeast, over 99% of goods traded overseas move through the port of Dalian. Earlier this year, Liaoning province formed a new company to run its ports, including Dalian, and after China Merchants Group took over the controlling stake, boosting efficiency was on the top of the reform list.

YU BING, SUPERVISOR DEPT. OF CONTAINER CONTROL, PORT OF DALIAN "In the past, to offload a 200,000-ton container ship, we often used 6 staff per freight station, now we've cut the number of workers down to 2."

GUAN YANG PORT OF DALIAN "Some western observers predict that the escalation and extension of the year-long trade war between China and the US will hamper the growth of China's container shipping business. But here at northeastern China's largest port, the real situation is quite the opposite."

13% growth in container volume - a first quarter figure from Liaoning Port Group. In the shipping industry, container volume of any given period is a strong indicator of how the current operations are going. And profits from the container service division were up by a stunning 35%.

QU WEI, VICE DIRECTOR DEPT. OF CONTAINER SERVICE, LIAONING PORT GROUP "After Mergers and acquisitions, the new structure enables the management to re-organize the client base and remove vicious competition between ports. We've also dedicated all of our efforts to generating new businesses, like several sea routes to Southeast Asia were established."

In terms of the group's domestic operations, divisions like the auto terminal have taken full advantage of the existing sea routes: new vehicles are being shipped from the northeast to southern parts of the country both ways - a much cheaper option compared to land transport.

NING JIAZHEN, MANAGER AUTO TERMINAL, LIAONING PORT GROUP "Even with the sluggish demand in the domestic auto market, we've managed to achieve a 15% growth in profits during the first 5 months. Next, we shall expand the capacity of our sea-rail combined routes: once the market bounces back, we will have the right services ready."

So how has the tit-for-tat trade dispute affected the largest port in China's northeast? The figures from Liaoning Port Group can offer part of the overall picture. Meanwhile, It is also worth noting how ports on the other side of the Pacific are coping. GUAN YANG, CGTN, DALIAN.