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American President Lines (APL) expects between 4 to 5 per cent growth in its China and trans-Pacific service this year, an APL executive says.

Francis Wong, APL general manager for south China, said while the first-quarter results were not that good, demand over the past two months had picked up, doubling the volumes handled earlier this year.

'This year the overall demand will be flat but our cargo volumes in China will be strong,' he said during a visit to Yantian.

He predicted that the China business volumes in the second half of the year would be better than the first because of low inventory in the United States.

Europe had also shown strong signs in the past month or so, especially demand from Britain.

Mr Wong said APL was carefully monitoring container growth in China to see that the infrastructure could cope with it.

While transport and resources were not growing proportionately, the situation was not alarming, he said.

'We don't want to bust the entire system' by being over-productive.

'We want to push for more cargo into Yantian International Container Terminals (YICT) but gradually.' Mr Wong said APL, a service-orientated company with a modern fleet backed by a large intermodal network service in the United States, was promoting YICT as a world-class terminal.

Mr Wong said more shippers were sending their cargo directly out of Yantian port because of cost savings of between US$300 to $400 per teu (20-ft equivalent unit).

Shippers, wishing to avoid the five to six hours wait at the border crossings, were now shipping their cargo through Yantian instead of Hong Kong, he said.

Yantian also had a daily feeder service. The service, which usually used two barges, was now using three barges to cope with the increased demand.

Yantian port has lower terminal handling and trucking costs than Hong Kong and no import or re-export duties.

The port also offers a late cut-off time - 5pm on Saturday - to receive goods for shipment.

Mr Wong said APL was linked to YICT by electronic data interchange (EDI).

APL can monitor containers once they get through the gate at Yantian until the time they leave the port.

APL's China operations would be enhanced greatly when the next phase of its EDI system known as bay plans was fully implemented by the end of the year, he said.

 The bay plans would enable the company to monitor in-bound and outbound containers on vessels through its EDI interphase and also improve efficiency and reduce human error.

'This will help us as the system will be linked directly to the central operations in Oakland, USA,' he said.

Besides being hooked up to a worldwide network, APL would also be able to maximise space in its vessels by tracking container movements.

APL has nine branch offices in China, which can handle money transactions and documentation such as bills of lading. They are at Shanghai, Nanjing, Beijing, Tianjin, Dalian, Qingdao, Xiamen, Guangzhou and Shenzhen.

The carrier, which also serves Fuzhou, Ningbo and Zhangjiagang, was prepared to establish branch offices where the cargo base was large enough to support an office, he said.

  Mr Wong said all the branch offices would soon be linked by an advanced electronic mail system.

One of APL's long-term strategies was to establish offices in coastal ports and later move to inland areas, he said.



APL forecasts China strength