Shipping demand picks up with economy

After a lackluster first half of the year, business has started to improve at Hangzhou Yongliang Logistics Co, which operates 800 trucks that carry cargo nationwide.

At the start of the year, when things were at their worst, many of Yongliang's trucks had to wait days or even weeks for cargo if they didn't want to return home empty, said Cao Haiming, an employee at Yongliang.

But in August, demand picked up, especially in the Yangtze River Delta region, where trucks can now easily find cargo to transport. However, drivers sent to northern provinces still have to wait one or two days to find cargo to carry back.

"We were a bit worried earlier in the year, but now business is getting close to its best," Cao said.

The situation is mirrored across the country. The National Bureau of Statistics said on Thursday that the country's economy expanded 2.2 percent in the third quarter from the second quarter. The economy also grew 9.1 percent year-on-year, above the 7.5 percent annual growth target.

The third quarter was also the second straight quarter in which growth accelerated. In September particularly, the growth of industrial output, fixed-asset investment and retail sales accelerated, highlighting the economy's strong momentum.

The third-quarter data erased any worries that the world's second-largest economy risks a hard landing.

Dariusz Kowalczyk, a senior economist and strategist at Credit Agricole CIB, expects further growth acceleration in both quarter-on-quarter and year-on-year terms in the last quarter of the year, while maintaining his 7.7 percent annual growth forecast for 2012 and 8.2 percent for 2013.

Nomura Research wrote in a report on Thursday that the September data "surprised" on the upside.

Growth has been the most robust in the Yangtze River Delta region, where the roads are also some of the busiest in the country.

Anhui Expressway Co Ltd, for example, which operates five expressways in the region, said it saw 19 percent more vehicles in August than in the same period last year.

Huning Expressway, which connects Shanghai and Nanjing and is one of the busiest in the country, said that daily traffic grew 2.75 percent in August.

Zhang Zhaohu, a driver at Yongliang, felt the growth in person.

Zhang now travels over 20,000 kilometers and earns around 10,000 yuan ($1,588) a month, carrying cargo around Hangzhou, Zhejiang province. In September, Zhang got 20 jobs, almost twice the number in January.

"Now it's not about if there are any jobs, it's about if you want to take them. The money is out there for you to earn," said Zhang.

"But I think that the workload I did last month is my maximum, I don't want to ruin my health for money."

Looking into the future, however, Zhang feels little safety.

"What we do is really subject to market conditions. I can say that the rest of the year will be good. But it's really hard to say what the market will be like this time next year."