Cosco Shipping’s rising container volumes put it on course to overtake Hutchison Ports as world’s No 2 ports operator

Hong Kong-based Cosco Shipping Ports, a division of China’s state-owned shipping giant Cosco, is set to overtake city rival Hutchison Ports as the world’s second-biggest port operator as soon as this year, according to ports and shipping analytics firm Drewry.

In a report last month, Drewry noted that Cosco Shipping Ports had grown its throughput by 32.2 per cent to 46.1 million twenty-foot equivalent units (TEU) in 2018 from a year earlier, just short of CK Hutchison Holdings-owned Hutchison Ports’ 46.7 million TEU.

While Cosco Shipping may be close to overtaking Hutchison Ports’ container volumes, it is still way behind No 1 ranked Port of Singapore Authority’s 60.3 million TEU in 2018.

Han Ning, Drewry’s China director, said that part of the reason for Cosco Shipping’s success in building its throughput was from handling its own parent company’s business.

“Cosco Shipping Ports has been very active in recent years, acquiring many terminals. It will definitely expand to serve its own liner business,” she said.