In 2021, China’s port throughput achieved rapid growth.
On March 30, Shanghai International Port (Group) Co.Ltd(600018) ( Shanghai International Port (Group) Co.Ltd(600018) . SH) and Ningbo Zhoushan Port Company Limited(601018) ( Ningbo Zhoushan Port Company Limited(601018) . SH) released the annual report for 2021. As a leading enterprise in port operation, Shanghai port is the top container throughput in the world. It has refreshed the historical records of single month and single day and night for many times. Ningbo Zhoushan port was even better in the bulk cargo business. Last year, the cargo throughput reached 945 million tons, a year-on-year increase of 2.9%.
The reporter noted that last year, the net profits of Shanghai International Port (Group) Co.Ltd(600018) and Ningbo Zhoushan Port Company Limited(601018) reached a new high Shanghai International Port (Group) Co.Ltd(600018) revenue and profit both rose sharply. The company achieved an operating revenue of 34.289 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 31.28%, and the net profit exceeded 14 billion yuan for the first time, a year-on-year increase of 76.74%. Thanks to the orderly epidemic prevention and control, the improvement of port services and the optimization of port business environment, Shanghai International Port (Group) Co.Ltd(600018) loading and unloading industry has developed steadily; The “sideline” of logistics, service and investment shows multi-point flowering. The income of its shipping companies has increased significantly. Jinjiang shipping plans to be split and listed in 2022.
Ningbo Zhoushan Port Company Limited(601018) ‘s business model focuses on terminal operation and port logistics and capital operation. In 2021, the company achieved an operating revenue of 23.128 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 7.35%, and the net profit exceeded the 4 billion yuan mark for the first time, a year-on-year increase of 23.85%. In terms of capital operation, Ningbo COSCO’s split listing and A-share non-public offering to China Merchants Port Group Co.Ltd(001872) have been accepted by the CSRC.
container transportation market has strong demand
Shanghai International Port (Group) Co.Ltd(600018) said that in the face of the continuous recurrence of covid-19 pneumonia and the reconstruction of global supply chain and other factors, in 2021, the global market increased its dependence on Chinese export manufacturing, and Chinese orders increased significantly, driving the rapid growth of China’s port business demand.
According to the statistics of the Ministry of transport, in 2021, the cargo throughput of ports across the country was 15.55 billion tons, a year-on-year increase of 6.8%, an increase of 2.5 percentage points over the previous year; The container throughput of ports across the country reached 280 million TEUs, a year-on-year increase of 7.0%, an increase of 5.8 percentage points over the previous year.
The factors driving the performance changes of port companies mainly include two aspects: first, the macroeconomic development status and development trend; second, the total demand for port import and export goods and the economic development of the hinterland.
Taking Shanghai port as an example, the economic development of the hinterland will play an important role in the generation and flow direction of container cargo sources, and directly affect the increase or decrease of port cargo throughput. In 2021, affected by covid-19 epidemic, the global supply chain was blocked, foreign ports were congested, the ship operation efficiency decreased, the effective transport capacity decreased, the supply and demand of centralized transportation was unbalanced, and there was a shortage of empty containers and shipping spaces.
Shanghai International Port (Group) Co.Ltd(600018) in view of the above situation, the construction of Northeast Asia empty container transportation center will be started within the year, the container transportation efficiency of adjacent ports will be further improved by sharing storage yards, and water transfer will be used as an important support for container business to invest in inland shipping.
In 2021, Shanghai International Port (Group) Co.Ltd(600018) company achieved an operating revenue of 34.289 billion yuan, an increase of 31.28% year-on-year. Among them, the container throughput of the home port reached 47.033 million TEUs, a year-on-year increase of 8.1%. The container sector achieved an operating revenue of 14.906 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 11.70%. This sector accounted for 43.47% of the main business revenue and 47.78% of the gross profit margin.
In Ningbo Zhoushan port, the company achieved an operating revenue of 23.128 billion yuan last year, with a steady growth in containers, and the volume of international transit containers reached 4.5 million TEUs, a year-on-year increase of 3.4%; 9.669 million TEUs were exported locally, with a year-on-year increase of 14.2%; Domestic trade boxes completed 4.401 million standard boxes, a year-on-year increase of 10%. Sea rail intermodal transport exceeded 1.2 million TEUs for the first time, with a year-on-year increase of 19.8%. In 2021, the demand of foreign trade container transportation market is strong, and the empty containers and space resources are in a continuous state of tension.
In addition, the comprehensive revenue of the company’s bulk cargo handling and related businesses such as iron ore, crude oil and coal was 5.925 billion yuan, equivalent to four times the revenue of the bulk cargo sector of Shanghai port. Among them, the unloading volume of ore, crude oil and coal reached 146 million tons, 100 million tons and 65.942 million tons respectively, with a year-on-year increase of 2.1%, 7.5% and 11.9%.
As an important commodity storage and transportation base in China, Ningbo Zhoushan port undertakes about 40% of the country’s oil products, 30% of iron ore and 20% of the country’s coal reserves. The company said that in 2022, we should comprehensively promote the supply organization of all goods in Hong Kong, including stabilizing the stock of ore business, expanding the increment of crude oil business, adjusting the structure of coal transportation, etc.
inter port competition and cooperation relations enter a new stage
Shanghai International Port (Group) Co.Ltd(600018) said that the development trend of large-scale ships, alliance operation, grid operation and whole process logistics in the shipping market has put forward higher requirements for port operations Ningbo Zhoushan Port Company Limited(601018) on the other hand, it said that under the current background of regional port integration and capital cooperation, the port competition pattern has been basically stable. With the continuous expansion of cross hinterland among port enterprises, the supply competition for cross hinterland is becoming increasingly fierce.
Judging from the gross profit margin level of different business segments, the gross profit margin of container business is much higher than that of other businesses, while the volume of container business of Shanghai International Port (Group) Co.Ltd(600018) far exceeds that of Ningbo Zhoushan Port Company Limited(601018) , which is one of the core advantages of Shanghai International Port (Group) Co.Ltd(600018) .
In the business plan of Ningbo Zhoushan Port Company Limited(601018) 2022, the top priority of port development is to strengthen the container transportation business. Unlike Shanghai port, which has a unique international trunk transportation hinterland, Ningbo Zhoushan port mainly relies on the advantages of international transit, through the operation volume of the whole ship transshipment business, and strengthens the cooperation with North and South ports to promote the development of internal branch lines, so as to stabilize the transit path and transit volume.
On the basis of the five-year economic growth of the main port of Shanghai, the reporter found that the growth rate of the container industry is stronger than that of the main port of Shanghai.
In 2021, Shanghai International Port (Group) Co.Ltd(600018) ultra remote intelligent command and control center was established, realizing the “empty hanging box” hundreds of kilometers away; The traditional wharf automation transformation has achieved phased results, and the single operation automation upgrading of 1 bridge crane, 2 RTGS and 6 aivs has been successfully completed.
Next, the company will continue to use advanced technologies such as artificial intelligence, big data and digital twins to improve the production command system to achieve industry leadership.
With the gradual promotion of overseas resumption of work and production, in the long run, the port industry will jointly face the risks of weakening China’s export substitution demand and rising logistics operation costs.
Shanghai International Port (Group) Co.Ltd(600018) 2021 annual report shows that the operating cost of the company’s port logistics sector increased by 41.81% year-on-year, mainly due to the significant year-on-year increase in the costs of shipping companies, fuel and logistics companies Ningbo Zhoushan Port Company Limited(601018) 2021 annual report shows that the operating cost of integrated logistics and other businesses increased by 25.31% year-on-year, mainly due to the increase of cost items such as transportation expenses, labor costs, outsourcing business expenses and outsourcing labor expenses.
In terms of future profit expectations, Shanghai International Port (Group) Co.Ltd(600018) said that the rigid rise of terminal operating costs and the further tightening of the bottom line constraints on resources and environment will continue to put pressure on the profitability of the port industry Ningbo Zhoushan Port Company Limited(601018) said that the competition between adjacent ports in market development, customer resources, infrastructure and other aspects is increasing, resulting in the decline of port profits.
Therefore, in terms of the integration of the Yangtze River Delta, the two ports carried out strategic cooperation in 2020 Shanghai International Port (Group) Co.Ltd(600018) invested 2.9 billion yuan to participate in the private placement of Ningbo Zhoushan Port Company Limited(601018) with a shareholding of 5%. Yan Jun, President of Shanghai International Port (Group) Co.Ltd(600018) was elected as the director of Ningbo Zhoushan Port Company Limited(601018) and achieved historic equity cooperation. Since then, Ningbo Zhoushan Port Company Limited(601018) has won the license of China Merchants port, and Shanghai International Port (Group) Co.Ltd(600018) now lives in the third largest shareholder of Ningbo Zhoushan Port Company Limited(601018) .
At the business level, the two sides are also negotiating to participate in the comprehensive development of Xiaoyangshan port area and jointly establish Shanghai port and waterway to carry out investment cooperation. In this regard, Shanghai International Port (Group) Co.Ltd(600018) said in the annual report that through the joint development with Zhejiang port, the energy level of Yangtze River Service Center can be continuously improved and the pre efficiency of home port service can be fully released.
