Although the crowded Hong Kong has its own unique problem - Hong Kong's containers have to be stacked into seven stories - but when global trade generally slows down, Hong Kong is also affected by the port's throughput and excess shipping capacity.
The bankruptcy of Hanjin, the Korean shipping group, has caused the outside world to focus on the plight of the shipping industry.
But the ports in mainland China have also been severely affected by the global slowdown. China has seven of the world's 10 busiest container ports.
The report said that as shipping companies have integrated to ease the impact of the industry downturn, analysts worry that the increased bargaining power of shipping companies will exacerbate the plight of port operators.
“The concentration of the shipping industry is increasing, and the rationalization of their networks by various alliances will lead to a reduction in the number of requests for entry and a reduction in the frequency of calls.” Inter-governmental think tank and port expert Olaf of the International Transport Forum of the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) Merck said, "This is a dangerous game for the port, because if you don't join one or more alliances, you may become a big loser."
Like other government-backed heavy industries, Chinese ports also have serious problems with excess capacity.
According to the report, in 2013, the excess throughput capacity of Chinese ports was equivalent to 50 million 20-foot containers, surpassing the combined throughput of ports in Japan, Russia and South Korea. According to data from the International Transport Forum, by 2030, the excess throughput capacity of Chinese ports will double, as local governments are competing to build larger and larger port facilities.
At the same time, due to the weak economic environment and China's structural transformation to high-end manufacturing, shipments from the world's largest exporter are expected to remain under pressure.
According to the report, the Chinese government is investing huge sums of money to support factories to produce higher-value high-tech products, such as smart phones and computer chips, which occupy less space on board than furniture and shoes.
China’s container exports have fallen by 7% year-on-year in the first five months of this year, highlighting this trend.
Deng Zijie, China's port industry analyst at credit rating agency Moody's, said: "In the years after joining the World Trade Organization (WTO) in 2001, China's container exports reached a growth rate of 15% to 20%, and it is hard to see this increase. Speed up."
In addition, Deng Zijie said that the pricing power of Chinese ports is being squeezed because of the huge decline in the profits of shipping companies due to the oversupply of ultra-large vessels.
Fan Chuyan, CEO of Maersk Line Asia Pacific, believes that the decline in shipping companies' profits should be alleviated by the industry's "unprecedented wave of integration." Many shipping companies launched mergers and alliances, while Hanjin Shipping went bankrupt. Maersk Line is the world's largest container shipping group.
Peter Levesk, chief operating officer of the Modern Container Terminals, which operates container terminals in Hong Kong, Shanghai and Shenzhen, believes that this round of integration will ultimately benefit the shipping industry.
He said: "The new alliance structure should help the shipping company to rationalize and restore the freight. Only shipping companies can operate successfully and achieve profitability."
According to reports, in this round of shipping industry downturn, the freight rate plummeting to near historical lows has rebounded slightly due to the problem of Hanjin shipping. The company's dozens of ships carrying billions of dollars of cargo are currently out of service.
But Patrick Bergend, CEO of Xeneta, a shipping price platform, said the rebound could be very short and eventually someone would buy Hanjin Shipping or its ships.
He said: "Then you still have to face the problem of overcapacity in the industry."