Why Intra-Asia?

	The maritime business hub of Hong Kong is a fitting home for this executive-level international conference on maritime container supply chains, logistics and transport. Hong Kong on its own remains the third largest container port in the world and as part of the Greater Pearl River Delta lies at the heart of the world’s greatest container port cluster, with a combined throughput of 46 million TEU in 2010.
	Not only has the Greater PRD played a pivotal role in the dynamic growth of the world’s major east-west trade lanes, it is set to be the focal point of perhaps the most significant trade development of the coming decade and a key focus of debate at TOC CSC 2012: Intra-Asia.
	The boom in Intra-Asia trade is driven partly by increased levels of consumption both in China and the ASEAN region, but also significantly reflects the changing nature of supply chains, especially within global electronics and automotive production networks, with upper- and middle-income countries increasingly specialised in the production of sophisticated components and lower-income countries assembling final goods.
	This changing industrialisation paradigm is driving both volume and complexity in Intra-Asia trade, creating new business opportunities but also exposing the need for significant investment in landside logistics infrastructure across the region, to keep cargo moving and supply chains functioning.
	In the maritime sector, this trend is being accompanied by increases in both dedicated fleets and vessel sizes, as larger ships are cascaded into regional trade flows. In 2010 some 40 new services were introduced into the East Asia shortsea trades alone. The average vessel size now deployed in Intra-Asia is 1,200 TEU. Even this disguises the fact that 16 percent of the fleet is now in the 2,500-3,500 TEU range, having mushroomed from just 2 percent in 2006. And with even panamax vessels now finding their way into regional trades, there is mounting pressure on ports in the ASEAN nations and elsewhere to upgrade for the new trade reality.
	Improving pan-Asian transport connectivity and logistics efficiencies are now vital to sustaining the region’s continued trade growth. Given Asia’s current status as the bright spot in the world economy and its rising systemic importance1, intra-Asia container supply chain performance is also increasingly a matter of global, as well as regional, significance.  Speakers at TOC CSC Asia 2012 will explore the changing regional and global trade dynamics and discuss critical finance, infrastructure, service and operational requirements to support the next phase of growth.

1 | Source: IMF World Economic Outlook, September 2011

Intra-Asia by the numbers:

• Intra-Asia trade is forecast to reach 22 million TEU in 2011, overtaking the massive Asia-North America and Asia-Europe east-west trades1
• Chinese exports are tipped to represent 35% of all intra-Asia trade by 20121

1| Source: Box Trade Intelligence