The spokesman of Ministry of Transport (MOT) He Jianzhong reported the transportation economic situation in the first two months of this year at the regular press conference on March 22, and answered the issues with social concern such as the special rectification of toll road, the construction of n integrated transport system, the construction of highway, the operation of long-distance sleeper buses, the situation of the international shipping industry and the disposal of the "Athena" shipwreck and so on.

 

MOT will release 4 policies to support shipping industry under current situation.

 

He Jianzhong said when stating the transportation economic situation in the first two months of this year that, the international shipping market is still in the corner, and there is still no signs of recovery. At the beginning of this year, the Baltic Dry Freight Index (BDI) dropped below the historic low point during the international financial crisis in 2008, down to 662 points, and both the international container transportation and the oil transportation industry are also facing continued losses.

 

He Jianzhong said that, the shipping industry itself is a highly cyclical industry, and there are three major reasons resulting in an extremely severe situation of the international shipping industry: one is that the needs of the shipping market slowdown, another is that the transport capacity is extremely excessive, and the last but not least one is that the cost of enterprises rises sharply.

 

As a result, the MOT will take a series of measures to support the shipping companies to ride out the storm. First, it will provide the shipping companies the guidance to strengthen risk management, and support shipping companies and large shippers to sign risk-sharing contracts so as to reduce the canvassing and market risk; second, it will encourage and support the mergers and reorganizations between shipping enterprises with capacity, regulate the investment in shipping industry by cargo owners, and guide the cargo owners and shipping enterprises to realize mutual benefiting and win-win; third, it will strengthen the macro-control of the market to create a fair and orderly environment for enterprises; last but not least, it will study the policies and measures to revitalize the shipping industry, and try to releases opinions on promoting the healthy development of the shipping industry.