King of the castle

摘要

Much has been written about the slowdown of the Chinese economy. But a new study says that the country will continue to dominant the transpacific tradelane. However, soaring fuel costs and changing inland logistics infrastructure within the US will impact in the way the market is served. Rebecca Moore reports. India and South East Asia exports to the US will carry on increasing - but will still be in the shadow of China's output for the foreseeable future, a new report claims. The Containerised Intermodal Goods Movement Assessment 2008, report released by US consultancy, the Tioga Group, flies in the face of recent studies and analysts' predictions that China's dominance has reached a peak and that other South East Asia countries', such as Vietnam, are contenders for its crown. Indeed, a recent report published by Credit Suisse - Emerging markets economics research - said: 'We think the end of an era in terms of China's mighty export industry has just begun. Current conditions will likely go beyond the cyclical slowdown caused by the US recession.' It cited China's new labour laws, surging wage costs, currency appreciation and high material prices as reasons why power would shift to other Asian countries. But despite the trend for manufacturers to move their factories to countries like Vietnam, which are cheaper than China, Tloga's report stresses that China will continue to dominate the transpacific tradelane.