CHINA: China Merchants Holdings International, China’s largest port operator on the mainland, is urging terminals along the maritime silk road to align in an effort to counter the alliances among container carriers.
A terminal alliance would enhance the comparative advantages of pairing arrival and departure ports, Bai Jingtao, general manager of CMHI, told the Maritime Silk Road Port International Cooperation Forum in Ningbo Friday.
The pairing of arrival and departure ports would work to provide logistics services for manufacturers and consumers as well as provide financial services to strengthen the comparative advantages of each port in the terminal alliance, Bai said, arguing that this would enable the ports to handle carrier alliances.
Bai suggested that all terminals in his suggested port alliance would employ a unified information service platform based on “big data” principles, providing unimpeded access to information between terminals, especially between the port pair.
The terminal alliance would allow data transparency and data flow, unlike the current the situation where ports act as “information islands,” he said.
As for the further development of terminal alliance, Bai said the participants should look to supply financial services and aim for international shippers to become reliant on their services.
