Annual Report 2023

ANNUAL REPORT 2023 7 It is with great delight that I present China Merchants Port Holdings Company Limited (the “ Company ”) and its subsidiaries’ (the “ Group ”) 2023 annual report (the “ Annual Report ”) and its audited financial statements for the year ended 31 December 2023. The Company is a global leading port developer, investor and operator, with a comprehensive ports network at hub locations along coastal China, as well as Asia, Africa, Europe, Oceania, South America and North America, amongst others. In recent years, the Company has been deepening its global presence and striving to improve its performance, with the aim of becoming a “world’s leading comprehensive port service provider with high quality”. The wo r l d , t he e r a and t he i ndu s t r y unde rwen t unprecedented changes in 2023. The global industrial chain and supply chain were accelerating their restructuring and adjustment, with the trend of localization and regionalization becoming more evident. Against the backdrop of the continued vulnerability of the global economy, increasing geopolitical risks, declining stability of the supply chain, and intensifying conflicts between supply and demand in the industry in the new round, the port and shipping markets continued to be complicated and uncertain. The daily operation and management of port enterprises and their overseas investment presence encountered great challenges. In the face of the complicated external environment, the Group has taken “high-quality development” as the main line and “lean operation and global layout” as the lead, and solidly promoted “endogenous growth” and “innovation and upgrade”, and effectively responded to the impact of factors beyond expectations, and accomplished various operational tasks and opened up a sound situation for high-quality development. REVIEW FOR THE YEAR In 2023, the global economic landscape continued to undergo profound adjustments with the impact of grim geopolitical situation and frequent regional conflicts. The increasing anti-globalization trend and obvious rise of unilateralism and protectionism, together with the intensified price volatility in the commodity market, the subsistence of inflation problem, and the accumulation of risks in the global financial markets, bought about a series of risky challenges for the development of the global economy. According to the “World Economic Outlook” report published by the International Monetary Fund (“ IMF ”) in January 2024, the global economy was expected to increase by 3.1% year-on- year in 2023. It was estimated that developed economies and emerging and developing economies would grow by 1.6% and 4.1% respectively. In terms of global trade, the volume of global trade is expected to increase by 0.8% in 2023, well below half of the estimated value for April 2023. This was mainly due to signs of a slowdown in trade in developed countries and in some regions because of inflation and shrinking demand.