SHENZHEN's 2013 cargo volume is expected to surpass Hong Kong's making the mainland port the third largest port in the world, according to a Ministry of Commerce official, says Xinhua.
A recent report from the Chinese Academy of Sciences also makes the same prediction. Not mentioned in the Xinhua report was the probable statistical impact of Hong Kong's 40-day dockers strike last May, which diverted ships to Shenzhen.
The report estimates that Shenzhen's full-year throughput will be somewhere from 23.3 million to 23.5 million TEU this year, 1.6 - 2.5 per cent higher year on year.
Judging from the statistics of the first five months of this year, Shenzhen has already surpassed Hong Kong. From January to May, Shenzhen handled 9.09 million TEU, up 2.05 per cent year on year, while Hong Kong volume dropped 9.1 per cent to 8.84 million TEU.
Last year, there were six months when Shenzhen's throughput surpassed Hong Kong's, five of them are in the later half. But Hong Kong managed to maintain world's No 3 status in the end with a weak advantage of 150,000 TEU in the end.