A Market Study of Sea Transport between China and Northern Europe

Abstract

Over the past months and years, the trade from China to northern Europe has boomed spectacularly. The fast development of foreign trade has not only pushed China’s port industry and international shipping industry forward considerably, but also provided foreign ocean carriers and terminals opportunities and challenges. As the largest port in the Scandinavia region, the Port of Gothenburg’s overall goals is to increase the number of calls made to it. Then the market study between Mainland China and northern Europe turned to be necessary and meaningful. The purpose of this study is to analyse China’s port industry and ocean shipping market in relation to trade with northern Europe. The effect brought by WTO Accession to the industry and market will also be discussed. Furthermore, this research is intended to recommend some suitable Chinese ports for cooperating with the Port of Gothenburg and to find the reason why some top shipping companies are not paying direct call to the Port of Gothenburg. A specific study of the Chinese international shipping industry, port industry and main export regions is given mainly in the following aspects: the current situation, fact and figures, the related policy, the developing trend, and the opportunities and challenges. The shipping and port industries of China are analysed by using Porter’s diamond. Two market surveys are performed, one for finding suitable Chinese ports for the Port of Gothenburg to cooperate with, and one for collecting information of using the Port of Gothenburg from several top shipping companies. In doing the market surveys, two questionnaires are adopted for information collecting and analysing. Our final recommendation is to cooperate with Qingdao Port, Shanghai Port and Guangzhou Port. We have also concluded why several top shipping companies are not paying a direct call to the Port of Gothenburg. A brief market analysis is also offered in the chapter of conclusion and recommendation.