REPORT: $14-BILLION GLOBAL PORT INVESTMENT IS NEEDED BY 2007

REPORT: $14-BILLION GLOBAL PORT INVESTMENT IS NEEDED BY 2007    Container terminal operators will have to invest about $14 billion in expanded or new port facilities by 2007 to accommodate traffic growth, according to a report by London-based Drewry Shipping Consultants.
   Drewry predicts that global container port throughput will increase by 111.5 million TEUs a year by 2007. Far Eastern ports outside Southeast Asia and South Asia should handle 38.7 million more TEUs a year, western European ports are expected to move an additional volume of 14.6 million TEUs a year, and North American ports are set to move an extra 8.3 million TEUs a year.
   “Some of this need can be met by filling spare capacity,” Drewry said. The balance will come from capacity expansion.
   The consultant’s report — “Global Container Terminals: Profit, Performance and Prospects” — predicts that the average capacity utilization of container ports worldwide will rise from 70 percent in 2001 to 80 percent in 2007.
   'North American container ports would see their utilization increase from 66 percent to 70.5 percent over the same period. Ports in Southeast Asia and in South Asia are expected to run out of capacity by 2007 and become 100 percent utilized, based on known expansion plans.
   The report also predicts that the global port operators, such as Hong Kong’s Hutchison group, Singapore’s PSA Corp. and Denmark’s APM Terminals, will increase their combined share of the world container capacity from 53 percent in 2001 to 63 percent in 2007.