Bohai Rim ports help offset COSCO volume losses

Bohai Rim ports help offset COSCO volume losses    Hong Kong-based terminal operator COSCO Pacific saw volume at 20 global ports in which it has stakes fall 4.8 percent in August, to 3.9 million TEUs.
   For the year, the company's volume has fallen 7.7 percent, to 27.9 million TEUs. COSCO's terminals in Qingdao and Dalian in northeastern China continued to be pillars of strength, with volume at Qingdao up 3 percent to 844,000 TEUs in August. Volume at Dalian terminals was up 4.5 percent to 418,000 TEUs.
   Volume at the major Chinese ports of Shanghai, Hong Kong and Shenzhen continued to lose ground in August, though COSCO's port in the Nansha container port in the West Pearl River Delta saw volume skyrocket 52 percent to 206,000 TEUs during the month.
   The operator didn't fare so well in Hong Kong, where volume at its terminal dropped 21.5 percent to 130,000 TEUs. That was far below the 10.7 percent volume drop reported Tuesday by the Hong Kong Port Development Council for the port as a whole, to 1.94 million TEUs.
   Volume at Hong Kong for the year is down 16.6 percent, to 13.7 million TEUs.