Asia-Pacific Stevedoring and Marine Cargo Handling Market Analysis by Mordor Intelligence
The Asia-Pacific Stevedoring and Marine Cargo Handling Market is expected to register a CAGR of greater than 5% during the forecast period.
- Asian Economies are experiencing a boom. They are home to the world's leading container ports, including Shanghai, Singapore, and Guangzhou. The largest container ship fleets worldwide are also registered here. Stevedoring and Marine Cargo Handling Operators load and unload cargo for waterborne transporters.
- Imports and exports account for the majority of waterborne cargo transportation, so industry performance closely mirrors Asia-Pacific trade volumes. Rising consumer spending and industrial production levels have caused the volume of goods transported through Asia-Pacific ports to increase, stimulating demand. However, the industry also contended with sharp declines in the price of crude oil, which reduced shipping rates and constrained industry fees. The industry is expected to benefit from rising trade volumes and consumer spending during forecasting.
- The Philippines was the top provider of both seafarers and officers, Indonesia took third place for ratings and fifth for officers, China was third for officers and fourth for ratings, and India was fourth for officers and fifth for ratings. The Russian Federation was the other country in the top five list. Seafarers are important sources of income for the supplying countries - for example, the Philippines earned USD 6.5 billion in 2019 from its seafarers. However, this fell by 2.8% in 2020, to USD 6.4 billion.
Asia-Pacific Stevedoring and Marine Cargo Handling Market Trends and Insights
Rising Container Handling Services are driving the market
Asia Pacific exports are expected to grow at a rapid pace, helped by the sustained strong growth of intra-regional trade within Asia Pacific, as China, India, and ASEAN continue to be among the world's fastest-growing emerging markets. Over 31 million twenty-foot equivalent units (TEU) of cargo are expected to be transported across the Pacific Ocean in 2021, making Trans-Pacific routes the largest shipping zone in terms of load size. As a result of growing globalization, the volume of seaborne trade reached some 11 billion metric tons in 2020.
In 2021, China's fleet ownership amounted to approximately 244.56 million dead-weight tons. Comparatively, Malaysia's fleet ownership amounted to approximately 8.75 million dead-weight tons. China and Japan placed among the top three ship owners in the world alongside Greece, with China owning a total of 7,318 vessels and Japan owning a total of 4,029 vessels as of November 20, 2021.
Increasing Maritime Trade in the region
In 2020, Asia accounted for most of the global maritime trade. Ports in Asia were responsible for loading almost 42 percent and unloading roughly 67 percent of all goods transported by sea worldwide. Some of the biggest ports in the world are located in Asia, mainly in China. In 2020, the amount of loaded dry cargo in seaborne trade in Asia amounted to about 2.75 billion tons. In that year, a total of 4.21 billion tons of goods were loaded in seaborne trade in Asia.
Asia's predominance in global maritime trade strengthened in 2020, as it maintained a 41% share of total goods loaded, increased its volume of goods discharged and remained the largest seafarer supply region in the world. The pandemic drove dramatic variations in Asian trade between 2019 and 2020, particularly on the Transpacific route. Reflecting the initial shock caused by the pandemic, container volumes from Asia to North America dropped by 13% between the fourth quarter of 2019 and the first quarter of 2020 but jumped by 36% in the third quarter of 2020, reflecting a surge in cargo flows to meet consumer demand.
Reflecting these large swings in trade flows, 2020 saw an increase of 2.8% on the route. By comparison, trade on the Asia-Europe route declined by 2.6% in 2020. Reflecting the resilience of the region's containerized trade and swift rebound in exports, Asia's container port throughput declined by a marginal 0.4% in 2020. The liner shipping connectivity of the continent also outperformed other regions, with the top five most-connected economies in the second quarter of 2021 being in Asia - China, Hong Kong (Special Administrative Region, China), Malaysia, Republic of Korea and Singapore.
Competitive Landscape
The Asia-Pacific Stevedoring and Marine Cargo Handling market is fragmented in nature, with a mix of global and regional players. The market is expected to grow during the forecast period due to several factors such as e-commerce, technology integration, and growing economies. The major companies in the region have adopted various modern technologies, such as warehousing management systems, automation, drone delivery, and the transportation management system, which has enabled better planning and tracking facilities, resulting in increased productivity and increased value proposition. Some of the major Players Include Hutchison Port Holdings Trust, China Merchants Port Holdings Co.Ltd, APM Terminals, A.P Moller Maersk and Others.
Asia-Pacific Stevedoring and Marine Cargo Handling Industry Leaders
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Hutchison Port Holdings Trust
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China Merchants Port Holdings Co.Ltd.
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A.P Moller-Maersk
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APM Terminals
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Pacific Cargo Services
- *Disclaimer: Major Players sorted in no particular order
Recent Industry Developments
- September 2022: MAERSK has completed its acquisition of LF Logistics, a contract logistics company with capabilities across e-commerce and inland transport in the Asia Pacific region. Having acquired the Hong Kong-based company, Maersk will add 223 warehouses to its existing portfolio, bringing the total number of warehouse facilities to 549 globally, spread across a total of 9.5 million square kilometres. With the addition of LF Logistics, Maersk gains unique and best in class capabilities to servicing the important and fast-growing consumer markets in Asia.
- February 2022: A.P. Moller - Maersk announced the intended acquisition of Pilot Freight Services (Pilot), a leading U.S.-based first, middle and last mile as well as border crossing solutions provider, specializing in the big and bulky freight segment in North America for B2C and B2B distribution models, from ATL Partners, a sector-focused Private Equity firm in New York and British Columbia Investment Management Corporation (BCI), one of the largest institutional investors in Canada.
Asia-Pacific Stevedoring and Marine Cargo Handling Market Report Scope
A stevedore is a company or individual that is usually contracted by an agent to load and unload cargo from a ship in port. Asia-Pacific Stevedoring and Marine Cargo Handling Market is Segmented By Type (Stevedoring, Cargo Handling, and Transportation, Others), By Cargo Type (Bulk Cargo, Containerized Cargo, and Other Cargo), and By Geography (China, India, Japan, Australia, Singapore, and the Rest of Asia-Pacific). The report offers Asia-Pacific Stevedoring and Marine Cargo Handling Market size and forecasts in value (USD billion) for all the above segments.
| Stevedoring |
| Cargo Handling and Transportation |
| Others |
| Bulk Cargo |
| Containerized Cargo |
| Other Cargo |
| China |
| India |
| Japan |
| Australia |
| Singapore |
| Rest of Asia-Pacific |
| By Type | Stevedoring |
| Cargo Handling and Transportation | |
| Others | |
| By Cargo Type | Bulk Cargo |
| Containerized Cargo | |
| Other Cargo | |
| By Geography | China |
| India | |
| Japan | |
| Australia | |
| Singapore | |
| Rest of Asia-Pacific |
Key Questions Answered in the Report
What is the current Asia-Pacific Stevedoring and Marine Cargo Handling Market size?
The Asia-Pacific Stevedoring and Marine Cargo Handling Market is projected to register a CAGR of greater than 5% during the forecast period (2025-2030)
Who are the key players in Asia-Pacific Stevedoring and Marine Cargo Handling Market?
Hutchison Port Holdings Trust, China Merchants Port Holdings Co.Ltd., A.P Moller-Maersk, APM Terminals and Pacific Cargo Services are the major companies operating in the Asia-Pacific Stevedoring and Marine Cargo Handling Market.
What years does this Asia-Pacific Stevedoring and Marine Cargo Handling Market cover?
The report covers the Asia-Pacific Stevedoring and Marine Cargo Handling Market historical market size for years: 2020, 2021, 2022, 2023 and 2024. The report also forecasts the Asia-Pacific Stevedoring and Marine Cargo Handling Market size for years: 2025, 2026, 2027, 2028, 2029 and 2030.
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Asia-Pacific Stevedoring and Marine Cargo Handling Market Report
Statistics for the 2025 Asia-Pacific Stevedoring and Marine Cargo Handling market share, size and revenue growth rate, created by Mordor Intelligence™ Industry Reports. Asia-Pacific Stevedoring and Marine Cargo Handling analysis includes a market forecast outlook for 2025 to 2030 and historical overview. Get a sample of this industry analysis as a free report PDF download.