Shanghai sees increase in cargo flow

Hainan Airlines' Beoing 737 aircraft takes off from Shanghai Hongqiao International Airport on March 3. [Photo/VCG]

Shanghai's role as an international shipping center has been further consolidated by the increasing traffic and cargo flows, which have served as important engines of the city's economic growth, said the municipal government.

The two major airports in the city, Shanghai Hongqiao International Airport and Shanghai Pudong International Airport, received over 30.1 million passengers in the first quarter, spiking 59.5 percent year-on-year.

Driven by the growth of passenger flow, Shanghai Airport (Group) Co Ltd saw its first quarter revenue surge over 40.6 percent year-on-year to about 3.03 billion yuan ($423 million). The company's net profit attributable to the parent company reached 386 million yuan, reporting a year-on-year turnaround.

Data from the Civil Aviation Administration of China showed that 160 million passengers took domestic routes in the first three months, an increase of 14.3 percent over the same period in 2019. The number of passengers transported via international routes exceeded 14.1 million, recovering to about 78 percent of the level during the same period in 2019.

Apart from passenger flows, Shanghai's economic recovery is also reflected in the growth of cargo flows.

Shanghai's waterway transportation also increased by 5.5 percent year-on-year in three months, exceeding expectations, said Shanghai Municipal Transportation Commission.

In the first quarter, the container throughput of Shanghai Port jumped 8.6 percent from a year earlier to approach 12.5 million TEUs. The sea-rail intermodal transportation at Luchaogang Central Station completed more than 180,000 TEUs, up 56.9 percent from a year earlier.

Shanghai's rising container throughput number can be partly attributed to the overall rebound of international trade in China, where the trend was more noticeable in April and May.

According to the General Administration of Customs, the total import and export value of China's trade in goods exceeded 13.8 trillion yuan in the first four months of this year, up of 5.7 percent year-on-year. Among them, the monthly import and export in April was 3.64 trillion yuan, not only returning to the growth territory but also reporting a year-on-year increase of 8 percent.

The growth of export goods has also led to a decline in the empty container reserve at the Shanghai Port, which has dropped to about 200,000 containers at present.

"The demand for containers at Shanghai Port has been rising since the beginning of this year. We are using Shanghai Port's Northeast Asia empty container center to meet the demand for foreign trade exports by optimizing the operation process," said Hu Meijuan, deputy general manager of market development center of Shanghai International Port (Group) Co Ltd.