Asian Port Capacity Expansion Fails To Meet Regional Throughput Growth

European ports have come under fire for failing to build sufficient capacity to meet demand in recent years, but now port authorities are also witnessing the same problem in Asia, PSA International's Kuah Boon Wee told delegates at our recent Supply and Demand conference in Singapore.

"I think two or three years ago it was very fashionable to say that European capacity growth was lagging, but one of the more sobering lessons of the past two or three years is that even within Asia, port capacity growth is not growing at a pace to meet demand," the CEO for PSA Southeast Asia and Singapore Terminals said.

A classic case in point has been Vietnam. The ASEAN nation has seen tremendous throughput growth in recent years, but lacking infrastructure has proven a major headache for carriers and led to severe congestion at the nation's ports.
"Nobody anticipated the significant growth rates that we have seen in the last three to four years. As a result, there is still a bit of catch up that is being played," he said, adding that the good news in Vietnam was that a number of operators are now building additional berths in the country.