News Highlights week: 07 - 2022

As of 11 March, the newly rebranded ‘VMM’ will call at Ho Chi Minh City, Port Kelang (Northport and Westport), Yangon (AWPT), Penang, Port Kelang (Northport and Westport), Ho Chi Minh City. 

With the expansion of the service, the turnaround time will also be increased from two weeks to three. The Singapore-registered IAL will therefore deploy a third vessel to the 'VMM'. The yet-to-be named ship will add to the loop's current fleet which consists of the 1,008 teu IAL 001 and the 907 teu PROGRESS. 
The new ‘VMM’ will allow IAL to offer a direct connection between Southern Vietnam and Myanmar, while boosting its Western Malaysia and Myanmar links. The carrier currently links Yangon with Singapore and Port Kelang through slots on X-Press Feeders' ‘YSS’ loop.
China’s top 10 ports handle 200 million teu in 2021 
China's ten largest mainland ports handled more than 200 million teu in 2021 as the country’s trade in consumer goods ramped up during the year. 

Ports on each end of the East-West mainline trades have seen an explosion in throughput numbers during the pandemic, with some such as Tianjin reporting double-digit growth last year. Overall, China’s top ten ports processed 202.5 Mteu, a 7.1 % increase on 2020. This growth was mirrored across the country, with China’s Ministry of Transport reporting total annual container throughput for the country of 282.7 Mteu, also an increase in the order of 7%. 
There is currently no change in the national ranking of China’s ten largest ports but growth rates varied widely during the year. At the top end, Northern China’s largest port, Tianjin, posted a 10.4% increase in 2021, while Qingdao, which had performed strongly in 2020, registered 7.7% growth. Yingkou was the only one of the top ten to lose traffic over the year. 
However heavy declines were observed at many ports at the end of the year with the reimposition of COVID restrictions. Tianjin, for example, lost 15% of its traffic year-on-year in December. 
Outside the top ten, Dalian had another difficult year: the port slipped from 19th to 29th globally in 2020 as volumes plummeted from 8.6 to 5.1 Mteu. In 2021 it saw another fall to 3.67 Mteu, a drop of 28%, as the port battled regional competition and severe congestion issues. However, bucking the trend, it rebounded strongly in December, posting gains of nearly 40% year-on-year for the month. The port imposed a new congestion surcharge on December 29.