The potential oversupply of large container ships of over 8,000 TEUs was a serious challenge that shipowners would face in the future, said China Ocean Shipping Company (Cosco) director Yang Shicheng.

The Beijing-based executive told delegates at the Baltic and International Maritime Council (BIMCO) general meeting in Hong Kong today that the shipping industry needed to be “reasonable” in its newbuilding investments.

“We do not want oversupply regenerated,” he warned.

His warning has probably come too late. A surge of container deliveries has, and will continue to, hit the market until 2008. Shipping experts believe it will not be until 2009 that trade growth will catch up and be able to absorb the new tonnage.

The BIMCO meeting was opened by Hong Kong chief executive Donald Tsang, who said the national government in Beijing “fully supports Hong Kong’s position as an international maritime centre”.

Tsang acknowledged the challenges facing the port. “Hong Kong is facing growing competition from ports in Shanghai and Shenzhen as well as from Singapore,” he said.

“By constantly improving the quality of service, and upgrading the skills and knowledge of our maritime professionals, we are rising to the challenge.”

Immediate past president CC Tung, giving his final speech as a BIMCO official, drew attention to the “Asian Focus” theme of the 2007 general meeting.

“More than one third of BIMCO tonnage operates out of this region,” he said.

“It has the greatest manufacturing centres of Japan, Korea, China and India; 80 percent of global shipbuilding is in Asia; seafarers from the Philippines, China and India form the backbone of the shipping industry; Hong Kong, Singapore, Shanghai and Shenzhen are at the forefront of efficiency of operations.”