THE July performance of container terminal operator Cosco Pacific's ports in July show that the northern Bohai Rim ports are continuing to be the only ones to show growth, up 5.6 per cent to 2.23 million TEU. 

But overall Cosco Pacific year-to-date gains fell to 2.3 per cent with a total of 14.99 million TEU handled.

The Yangtze River Delta ports posted two per cent lower volumes at 832,400 TEU in July, and the southeast coast ports suffered a harsh eight per cent decline to 331,900 TEU from an already low base point of 360,700 TEU in July 2014, reported Seatrade Maritime News.

Pearl River Delta ports, including heavyweights Hong Kong and Shenzhen, posted 0.7 per cent throughput growth to 1.72 million TEU. 

A closer look, however, reveals that the 7.5 per cent growth in volumes at Yantian International Container Terminals took up the slack for the underperformance and shrinking volumes at the group's two Hong Kong terminals. 

The Guangzhou terminal took the biggest hit with July's volumes plunging 13 per cent against the same month a year earlier. 

Even at its overseas terminals, Greece's financial hardships finally caught up with the group and a 1.7 per cent decline in volumes was seen its Piraeus container terminal, resulting in a 0.8 per cent drop in contributions from the overseas terminals to 844,400 TEU.