Nearshoring – and the impact on DP World Ports & Terminals is one of the four pillars of DP World , alongside Logistics , Marine Services , and Technology . In simple terms , if goods get on a ship , Ports & Terminals handle the containers at both ends of the crossing .
Put another way , an estimated 90 % of traded goods are carried by ship . That is a startling statistic , in an industry full of eye-catching numbers . The volume of global seaborne trade has almost tripled since 1990 – in no small part due to the rise of Chinese manufacturing and globalisation .
However , many commentators and politicians have been calling for an end or reduced reliance on such trade , based on the experiences of the pandemic and also growing trade tensions between east and west .
“ I think nearshoring is happening but we need to put it into context ,” says Tiemen .” If you have a global supply chain and you have production in four countries and decide to nearshore , then that is not going to happen quickly , it ’ s actually very slow .
“ But we do see a trend that some production is moving away from China , with the beneficiaries typically being Southeast Asian countries , India , but also Mexico , as a place that feeds into the United States . But it ’ s not overnight . Neither is it a phenomenon where you will see the trade from China actually shrink . It ’ s more that the growth out of China will mature and flatten , while the growth out of Vietnam , Philippines , India will accelerate .”
Tiemen explains that the impact for DP World is knowing where to have the right ports and terminals in locations that may become more significant over time .
He cites the example of one customer that wants to move some components from China to Mexico but says that process will take three or four years as they need to build a new factory and switch the supply chain .
Loaded ship at Southampton Port
28 June 2023