The top Chinese mainland ports handled 13.5 million twenty-foot equivalent units (TEUs) in January 2011. This translates to 17 percent year-on-year growth, which is rela-
tively consistent with increases at major coastal ports from 2001 to 2010. During this period, Shanghai became the largest port in the world, with 29.06 million TEUs exported in 2010.
In the bulk cargo markets, surplus capacity resulted in a
drop in freight rates, especially for oil tankers and dry bulk
cargo. The problem here is simply an imbalance of supply
and demand. On the one hand, numerous Chinese ships
have come on-line, thus increasing capacity. On the other
hand, debt crises in many
pressed global demand.