MIT and Ningbo establish supply chain education centre

Chinese container volumes are faltering – both exports and imports are down – but that hasn’t deterred officials in Ningbo, the huge container port that sits only behind Shanghai and Shenzhen in mainland China’s port league table, from coming together with academics from the US Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) to launch a new learning facility dedicated to logistics. Chinese container volumes continue to be huge, but so too are its logistics costs, and as rising competition form manufacturing in South-east Asia and elsewhere continues to erode China’s position as “the world’s factory”, this move is an attempt to regain its competitive edge through other means.