Market Reports Sees Port Investment Surge

An independent market report, conducted for Trelleborg Marine Systems, depicts a buoyant ports, harbours and terminal sector with more than a third of decision makers predicting a rise in spending.

The research, revealed in Trelleborg’s free industry Benchmarking Report, shows that 55% of operators, contractors and consultants believe that capital expenditure will rise or at least stay the same over the next 12 months. 60% are also confident that operational expenditure will remain at current levels or increase during the same period.

Richard Hepworth, Managing Director of Trelleborg Marine Systems, said: “The apparent optimism is good for the market and good for the economies of the world, which need investment in the global ports to drive trading growth.”

Further findings from Trelleborg’s survey show that almost half (47%) of stakeholders forecast significant investment to be made in the next two years, while a third (31%) more expect the spending to come through within five years.  

However, sounding a note of caution, Richard Hepworth added: “The short term outlook is much improved, but these decision makers don’t necessarily expect investment to return to the levels we enjoyed a few years ago. Almost two thirds think it could be less or, at best, static.

“The risk is that not enough investment will come through to offset the reduction in maintenance we’ve witnessed during the global recession. Ports, harbours and terminals need to embrace the ethos of making adequate investment now to ward off the future costs of downtime.”

Trelleborg’s Barometer Report, which details a wide range of findings from the industry survey, is available now as a free download from:  www.takesthepressureoff.com