Investors, media, friends, ladies and gentlemen, welcome to COSCO SHIPPING Ports annual result announcement. We have with us today Mr. Zhu Tao, Managing Director. Deputy Managing Director, Huang Tianyou. Deputy General Manager, Chen Yipeng. CFO, Zhao Fengnian. This announcement will begin with the presentation of the performance and outlook, and then we will follow with questions and answers. Mr. Zhu, the floor is yours.
Dear investors, media, friends, ladies and gentlemen, good afternoon. This is Zhu Tao, Managing Director of COSCO SHIPPING. Thank you so very much for attending COSCO SHIPPING Ports 2023 full-year results announcement. Thank you so very much for your long-term support and interest in our company. We take this opportunity to communicate and exchange our views. Today's presentation will cover five parts. First is the key highlights, and second is the financial performance. Third, operational review.
Fourth is strategy and outlook, followed by questions and answer. First of all, let me cover the company's key highlights. in 2023, in the face of many unfavorable factors in the world's economic growth and slowing recovery process of trade, global market faced with greater downward pressure. China's foreign trades continue to grow steadily and its international market share remained stable. According to the General Administration of Customs of the People's Republic of China, the total value of China's import and exports amounted to RMB 41 trillion, up by 0.2%. The value of exports reached a new high of RMB 23.7 trillion. in 2023, the company achieved steady growth amidst many challenges. Equity throughput rose by 3.1% to 43 million TEU. ASP of subsidiaries of China rose by 3.5% in RMB. ASP of European subsidiaries rose by 4% year-on-year in euro. Equity dividend $3.732 cents, up by 2.8%.
Overall speaking, the macroeconomic aspects of this year, the long-term positive development trend is unchanged. As for the international market, WTO expects global trade to go up by 3% this year, and we will continue the recovery trend. I will now give the floor to Mr. Zhao to introduce the financial performance.
Thank you very much, Mr. Zhu. Good afternoon, friends from media and investment. Let me introduce the second part of today's presentation, the company's full-year financial performance. in 2023, despite the complex macro environment, we still record a 0.9% increase in our revenue, mainly due to the ASP increase in both China and overseas subsidiary terminals. Operating profit rose by 5.2%. Profit attributable to equity holders of a company amounted to $325 million, up by 5.8%. Dividend payout remained unchanged at 40%. Dividend is $3.73, up by 2.8%. Revenue of China subsidiary rose by 0.4%.
Gross margin remained at a high level of 37.9%. Revenue of Tianjin rose by 9.4%. Gross profit margin also improved significantly, up by 10.6% to 43.6%. We will continue to attract resources to Tianjin and to capture new incremental domestic demand. Guangzhou and Xiamen, mainly affected by the downward pressure of European and American markets last year, saw a decline in both revenue and gross margin. At about 40% this year, we will steadily push forward the development of bulk cargo in Nansha Terminal. At the same time, we will continue to build a new model of port and supply chain at Xiamen Terminal and Xiamen Haicang CFS, providing one-stop services. In our overseas subsidiaries, revenue increased by 1.4%, gross margin 20.4%. Accelerated pace of our hub port in Middle East. Throughput of Abu Dhabi rose by 32%. Revenue and margin increased by 51% and 23%, respectively.
PCT in Greece, we further strengthened our marketing to the external customers and recorded both growth in revenue and margin. Both the volume and profitability performance of our Spanish and Zeebrugge terminal were affected. This year, we focus on boosting our rail shipments from Spain and Zeebrugge, and capitalize on the regional strength to play an even bigger role in land-sea corridor. In the future, we will continue to improve efficiency, increase revenue, and reduce costs. Let's take a look at the terminal profit. $ 432 million for the whole year, a slight decrease of 2.2% year over year. A breakdown by subsidiary and non-subsidiary. Subsidiary terminal profit $ 133 million, accounting for 30%, down by 3.7% year over year. China subsidiary terminal profit up by 5.6%, mainly driven by the performance of Tianjin Port Container Terminal. Overseas subsidiary terminal declined 19.9%, excluding the profit from Spain and Zeebrugge terminals.
Profit from overseas subsidiary terminals rose by 17.2% year over year. The company will continue to stabilize the Europe and local routes to enhance the profitability of overseas terminals. Profit from subsidiary terminals amounted to $ 299 million, accounting for 69.2% of the total terminal profit. China and overseas regions remain stable. We will continue to explore investment opportunities and highly strategic subsidiary. We will try to optimize the balance of our terminal portfolios and continue to improve the layout of our diversified terminal network. Next, let's look at the regional distribution of profits. For the whole year, we reached $ 354 million for the whole year's terminal profit, accounting for 81% of the total terminal profit, a slight decrease of 0.3%. Bohai Rim region, accounting for 41.2%, is the largest contributor to our profit and is up by 14.6%.
We will continue to grasp the opportunity of increasing the proportion of the trade in the north. Yangtze River Delta region profits were down by 9.3% year over year, mainly due to Wuhan Yangluo Terminal Greenfield projects. We will speed up the promotion of Wuhan railroad shipping platform construction to improve the terminal utilization and revenue. Southeast Coast region's profit up by 5.2%, Xiamen Ocean Gate Terminal being the main driver. Pearl River Delta region profits were down by 25%, with foreign exports volume expected to bottom out this year, driven by European and American inventory replenishment cycle. Profit in Southwest Coast up by 17.5%. We believe that profitability of this region is expected to improve further, thanks to the RCEP and the economic development of Southeast Asia.
In terms of the terminal profit in overseas region, we have $78 million for the year, accounting for 18.1%, a decrease by 9.6%. Mediterranean and Middle East accounting for 14.9% of the total terminal profit, which is the largest contributor to our company's overseas profit, climbing 40.4% year- over -year. We will continue to strengthen our work in Middle East hub port and weave together the trunk feed, the networks of PCT and Abu Dhabi. Profits in Northwestern Europe were down by 84%, mainly due to the poor performance in Spain, Zeebrugge, Antwerp, and Euromax Terminal. This year, with global economy expected to improve, we will have a higher profitability level in Northwest Europe. Singapore COSCO-PSA Terminal profit rose by 0.8%.
For other regions, even though the current share is relatively small, in the future, we will try to expand our overseas emerging markets, including Africa, South America, and Peru's Chancay Terminal will be the project we are looking forward to in the near future. This year, we will continue to cultivate the Chinese market and serve the domestic logistics network. We would also like to strengthen our cooperation with Ocean Alliance and maintain a highly efficient terminal portfolio both in China and overseas. In terms of balance sheet, as of the end of last year, the cash and bank deposit amounted to $1.16 billion, with 64% in RMB, 16% in EUR, and 34% in US dollars. On the loan side, the balance of loans amounted to $3.24 billion, 23% in RMB, 19% in EUR, and 55% in US dollars. For CapEx for the year 2023, we had $700 million.
Amongst that, $270 million was spent on investment, including $120 million for the additional 30% stake in Xiamen Ocean Gate Terminal and $94 million for Xiamen Haitao supply chain projects. PP&E, $430 million, including $280 million on the existing subsidiary terminal of Chancay in Peru. Total net debt to total equity ratio in recent years, we have been capped at a low level, and it was 29.6%. We will continue to capitalize on the advantage of lower leverage and identify investment projects with good development potential. Company's financing cost for US dollar and euro-dominated loans increased to 5.3% in 2023, and half of the company's cash and bank deposits are in RMB. Domestic capital expenditure is basically dominated in RMB only, which can help to reduce the financing costs.
We will also make every effort to control the size of our debt through a variety of measures to mitigate the impact of rising finance cost. I will now give the floor to Mr. Chen Yipeng to give us an operation overview.
Thank you very much for our financial performance. Now, let me introduce the company's operational overview. In the year of 2023, the company's total throughput reached 136 million TEUs, up by 4.4%. Compared to 0.6% year-over-year increase in 2022, the overall throughput trend is stable and growing. China terminal handled 103 million TEUs, up by 4.8% year-over-year, accounting for 76% for the total throughput. This is mainly driven by Bohai and southwest coast regions, and we predict that these regions will continue to record strong growth in the future.
Throughput for overseas terminals totaled at 32.7 million TEUs, up by 3.1% year-over-year, accounting for 24% of the total, amongst which Abu Dhabi Terminal performed very well. Equity throughput reached 43.3 million TEUs, up by 3.1% year-over-year. The equity throughput for China terminals was 30 million TEUs, up by 4.4% year-over-year, accounting for 71%. The throughput for southeast coast region has increased significantly, and in the future, we will continue to focus on Xiamen and Quanzhou terminals as our regional hubs. The equity throughput of overseas terminals, 12.7 million TEUs, accounting for 29% with a year-over-year increase of 0.1%. We will continue to develop our strategy around the Southeast Asian and RCEP markets and replicate the successful experience of PCT and other terminals, as well as to increase the number of routes calling at Abu Dhabi Terminal.
Influenced by last year's weak transportation demand, rising capacity supply, and other factors, market tariffs fluctuated at a relatively low level. We introduced 55 new routes throughout the year, adding about 788,000 TEUs and maintain a year-over-year growth in ASP. For domestic terminals, we will continue to utilize our resources and geographical advantages to stabilize rates and attract new throughput. In terms of overseas terminals, we will fully coordinate the market in Spain, Zeebrugge, and other terminals and continue to benchmark the rate of increased CPI on contract renewal. We will seize the opportunity to expand the scale of global resources while strengthening the level of operation investment layout to build a balanced and high-quality terminal network. We will also combine the needs of major customers in key industries and give full play to our own strength, so as to achieve synergistic benefits and maximize the value of all parties.
We're developing global logistics network by building a standard business at many subsidiary terminals. The following is the progress we have made recently. First, our newly acquired project in Xiamen Haitao CFS projects. This will undergo asset optimization and business upgrading, focus on promoting the development of cross-border e-commerce warehouses. Second is a Xiamen Haicang CFS project, which is already built. Third is the first phase of Abu Dhabi CFS project. We are actively strengthening the marketing and promotion strategies while pushing forward the construction of phase two. Fourth is Zeebrugge CFS. We're expanding the business from domestic demand while strengthening its overseas transshipment warehouses and related businesses. We'll continue to strengthen our base in the transportation of vehicles so as to provide customers with customized solutions for the whole logistic chain. In the year 2023, we handled 120,000 vehicles with an increase of 4.8x .
We will continue to vigorously promote the development of supply chain business and enhance the development advantage and mode of integrated operation between ship line, port, and supply chain, build a highly efficient, safe, and a reliable supply chain logistics system. We focus on the construction of a smart port and aim to continue to push forward digital and intelligence transformation through the following measures. First, we promote the use of driverless container vehicle projects with an annual handling of 210,000 TEUs, with a year-over-year increase of 4.5x at Xiamen Ocean Gate Terminal. We will also carry out similar projects related to 5G and artificial intelligence at other subsidiary terminals. Second, we'll continue to optimize equipment asset management EAM system to reduce the cost of equipment procurement, operation, and maintenance.
Third, the company will further develop the application of MIS system, which will drive the use of artificial intelligence and digitalization to achieve an upgraded management method. Upgrading from traditional operation to new mode of digital intelligence requires promoting the construction of digitalized ports. We will continue to build replicable and scalable, intelligent and efficient type of modern ports and move towards large-scale application. I'll give the floor to Mr. Zhu Tao to introduce our development strategy and outlook.
Let's have a look at our strategy plan and outlook. We have achieved a new advancement in globalization service capability. Last year, our terminal portfolio covered five main port regions in the middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze River in China, Europe, Mediterranean and Middle East, Southeast Asia, South American, and Africa. Our global network continue to expand.
In the face of more intertwined and chaotic environment, we need to take a global, proactive, and systematic approach to promote stability through progress, integrate scale and efficiency growth, and accelerate the innovation and transformation through synergy. Global layout. We will continue to grasp the opportunity to globalization. In 2023, we completed the acquisition of CTT terminal project in Hamburg and refine the original network layout of Suez Canal by completing the investment in a new terminal at the port of Sokhna in Egypt and promote the construction of Peru Chancay port project. Second, we will continue to commit to the principle of lean operation management. Third is integration. The company will continue to expand the downstream and upstream services capability and to develop the logistics park behind the terminal and supply chain expansion. Fourth, digitalization.
We will continue to strengthen our drive to innovate, focus on transformation and upgrading, lead the way to build smart ports. Fifth is green development. We will continue to expand the coverage of clean energy at our terminals. In the year of 2023, our sustainability efforts were highly recognized. We continue our rating with an A+ by Hang Seng Corporate Sustainability Index. In the 28th UNFCCC conference aimed at triple the global use renewable energy from the current level by 2030. We are also actively promoting energy saving and emission reduction. First, we have deepened the construction of smart terminal to enhance the overall operational efficiency of our terminals. In addition, the completion rate of oil to electricity conversion of RTGCs in our China subsidiary terminals reached 97%. The distributed PV projects has reached 10 MW , so we will continue to push forward wind power projects as well.
Second, we have a full coverage of shore power at container berth for our domestic subsidiaries. Together with COSCO SHIPPING Lines and OOCL, we issued the initiative for promoting the use of shore power by vessels calling at ports. We are committed to integrating the concept of sustainable development in our daily operations and promote carbon reduction. Greenhouse gas emission density and energy use density of our subsidiary terminals reduced by 20.8% and 20.5% respectively. We have met our midterm targets. Next, we will continue to fulfill our social responsibility promises by committing the carbon neutrality by 2060. Also, we strive to protect natural resources. We have improved the efficiency of water use in our subsidiaries. The density of water consumption decreased by 12.5% compared to 2020. In terms of waste disposal, we will continue to optimize and strengthen the protection of ecological environment.
We joined the conservation funds, such as WWF, to support various biodiversity conservation. Under the leadership of the board of directors and ESG committee, we are confident that we will continue to effectively promote green and low carbon ports and achieve our goal of dual carbon. Second half of 2023, global trade volume began to pick up. The global trade situation is expected to improve further, which will show a stable recovery. In China's economic foundations are still resilient, and there are many opportunities brought about by the long-term growth. Exports are expected to grow further, improve the quality, and will in turn support the market demand. China's strong domestic market, coupled with the rapid economic development for emerging markets such as Southeast China, Southeast Asia, South Asia, Middle East, Latin America, and Africa will become a great market potential growth in the future.
This year, we will seize the opportunity. In addition to grasping the opportunities of port resources in China, we will also accelerate the expansion of investment in ports with high development potential around the world. We will also expand the space for cooperation between ports and shipping lines, open up new business models, and promote COE in depths, and control cost by taking advantage of scale and comprehensively push forward the company's lean management strategy. COSCO SHIPPING Ports will continue to focus on new development patterns globally, have dual drivers of globalization and lean operation, accelerate the transformation upgrading through integration, digital intelligence, green and low carbon, so that we will try to build ourselves towards our goal of building a customer-oriented, leading integrated port logistics service provider. This concludes our presentation about the market situation and our company's operation in the year 2023.
I'd like to thank you, our dear investor and journalists, for your support to COSCO SHIPPING. We will closely follow the changes in the global trade pattern and make a contribution to the stability of global logistics supply chain and maximize the value for our shareholders. Now, we would like to proceed to questions and answers. All questions are welcome. Thank you very much.
We will now open the floor for questions from online and offline. Please identify yourself first. We have two questions from online, who is from CITIC in Beijing. Two questions. First is, in the year of 2023, the shipping market is faced with various challenges. The question is: what will be the outlook for the year 2024? What would you expect in the coming year?
Thank you very much. I would like to take this question. As everybody saw, global situation is quite complicated, especially the regional geopolitical changes. Advanced economy also saw their demand changing from goods to demand to services. So in a way, this undermined the recovery of goods consumption. Therefore, the trade recovery is only 0.8%, and the volume of shipping increased by less than 1%. However, as the interest hike probably would take a break and the demand for goods will recover more in the year of 2024. According to WTO, global trade in 2024 will increase by 3.3%, which is higher than 0.8% in 2023. At the same time, with such a good news, the year 2024 will show a container shipment increase by 3%-4%. The container shipping had a huge two years in the past.
In 2023, there were some reconsolidation, and we believe that in the year 2024, this market will showcase a more cyclical and patterned trajectory. We believe that the growth rate will be better than the year 2021, which is 180 million TEUs. Cross-Pacific route in 2024, especially eastwards, eastbound shipment will come back to an increased trajectory of 3%-5%. From January to March, Pacific routes had displayed significant increase. Latin America will also increase from 0.5% to 3.7%, with more potential in the market unleashed. So the volume will be bigger than the peak in 2021. The supply trend continue to consolidate. The Inter-America routes and third country routes will have some potential to grow. Cross-border e-commerce, PV, and batteries are on the rise. As China optimize for high-quality development, NEV exports will continue to increase. Container shipping keeps updating and modernizing itself.
We believe that NEV is going to be a main driver for the demand for overseas market. At the same time, Europe and America are transforming for digital and green economy. The PV and batteries are still quite big in terms of the demand projection.
Second question is for the company, how about your throughput expectation for the ports, both in and outside of China? Thank you.
I will take this question. Just as what Mr. Zhu had reviewed, the performance of 2023, we believe that this year, the throughput in China and overseas, we believe that the year 2023 had already bottomed out. Coastal areas in China will see a stable upward trend in the year 2024. According to WTO, global trade will increase by 3.3%. This number is much higher than the year of 2023, which was 0.8%.
We believe that we will benefit from a positive recovery of demand in the market worldwide. According to the survey conducted in Q4 last year, 2024 throughputs for the whole world is expected to come back to 2.3% growth year-over-year. In China, because 2024, the upward trajectory is expected, we think that our throughput will increase by about 5%. The Ministry of Transport in China also gave some positive sign. They say that it is going to be about 320 million TEU with an increase of 3%. The global or international shipping routes will increase by about 2%. Internally, domestic, we believe is going to be 4%. Overseas, especially in Europe ports, our terminal in Europe, we have high hopes and we think that we will have a stable recovery.
According to Q4 estimation, Europe throughput at terminal will have an increase of 3%, especially in the Mediterranean west ports. We have even bigger hope with an increase of 6.5%. Northwest Europe, about 3%-4% increase. In America, it is in a phase of replenishment and restocking. We believe that China-U.S. routes will see a good recovery of about 7% increase. But of course, we will be faced with a lot of challenges and opportunities, and we will stay put with our strategy so as to seize global opportunities. Thank you.
Any questions from on-site participants?
Thank you. I am from Nikkei. Two questions. First is what you said, the accident in Baltimore in the United States. There was a collision of a vessel, and the port was shut down. How is that impacting the global trade? Because you are a global operator, my question for you is whether or not that accident in Baltimore in the United States has an impact on global trade business. Second is the Red Sea, because you do have some business presence in Middle East. My question for you is whether or not the conflict in Red Sea and Middle East is affecting your business, and how is that affecting global supply chain?
Export of NEVs, because China seems to become the biggest export for NEVs. Right now, European Union seems to be taking some sanction measures on the vehicles from China. My question for you is whether or not this is going to impact your business there. Third is your order book for the export of vehicles, because we understand that SAIC seems to be having their own shipping operations rather than cooperating with you. So these are three of my questions.
Thank you very much for your questions. Recently, Maersk's ship hit a big bridge in Baltimore in the U.S. The impact of such accident on global trade, I would say, is rather minimal because it's a one-off accident. The power of the vessel was interrupted. The United States government saw that as an accident. I think that the shipping capacity is not affected a lot, and we just saw that as a one-off accident. It's not impacting global capacity a lot. Second is for your questions in Red Sea and Middle East. The Red Sea conflict is having a serious impact on global traders and shipping companies, especially for those that are operating in Suez Canal and surrounding ports. There was a need to reroute the vessels to the Cape of Good Hope in South Africa.
They're benefiting from this, and they're having a less impact on the Middle East ports. For the shipping companies, for those that can go directly to Europe, now they have to add additional about seven days or even 20-25 days. So the cost would be higher, and the turnover day will be longer. I think this is the main impact on the business. As a shipping company, we have to face up to the challenge. The Red Sea conflict will probably linger around for a little bit longer. But as the stakeholders are responding to the conflict carefully, and over time, the impact will be gradually absorbed. As a shipping company, we will operate in Middle East, in West Europe, and et cetera.
We will strengthen our communication with our stakeholders and partners, so that we'll be able to allocate our resources in an efficient and reasonable way. Export of EV. Mr. Chen, please.
Thank you very much. I'll try to respond to your questions with regard to EV exports. In the year 2022, China's vehicle export is 3.11 million vehicle, up by 54.4%. In the year 2023, the increase was even bigger by 5.2 million vehicles. So that was an increase of 57%. So you see that the NEV exports were really strong and solid. For shipping companies and terminal operators, in the year 2023, Xiamen Ocean Gate handled 43,000 vehicles. And in Zeebrugge Terminal, we handled 50,000 vehicles. So these two ports of ours handled the most number of NEV, but also in Tianjin Port and Abu Dhabi, they also have vehicle businesses.
So in total, we handled over 120,000 vehicles in the year 2023 at our company. We also had developed a visualized vehicle supply chain platform as a good support to our vehicle business. So this actually having a very good positive impact on our efficiency in our handling of vehicle business.
Thank you.
Financial Times. The United States mentioned that the shipping, shipbuilding, and logistic, maybe the United States will launch an investigation on the unfair practices of Chinese companies, so whether or not this is going to impact your business. Second question is, you mentioned the Red Sea. They were mentioning that it seems that Russia and China, the Houthi power seems to be reaching an agreement with Russia and China that some ships will be able to go through the canal safely. So I was wondering whether it is the right estimation. If the conflict continues, how is that going to impact your business, and can you quantify that? Third is China Plus One policy. Do you have any M&A plans as to some potential terminals and any potential target companies that you would like to acquire or merge with?
Your first question, could you be more specific?
The United States claims on any policy or measures or investigation in China company? Shipbuilding. China shipbuilders. I heard that the U.S. might launch the investigation on China shipbuilders or maybe imposing some taxes or fines on China's shipbuilders. How is that going to affect your business if it is the case?
Well, I think for terminals, no matter which country the vessels belongs to, we just serve them universally. I would only speak on behalf of ports and terminals. The principle we have is ports for all.
No matter what vessels you're talking about, as long as you are calling on our ports, we serve you. I think that news is not going to impact our business, and I'm not sure whether or not what you're saying is true or will there soon be any actual specific sanction or anything like that. Because we do not see any changes on our ship port calling or any vessels handling on our day-to-day business. Second question, I believe that it's better direct the question to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of China, because we never heard the Houthi group is having any sort of cooperation with China or Russia. There's Chinese crews that went through the Red Sea went under attack.
Well, I don't think I'm in a good position of taking this question because it seems that the negotiation amongst various parties are still under the process, and we are in no position of making any comments on that. The third question, possible acquisition. Well, investment is a pivotal part of our business growth. When we were talking about our strategy, we mentioned that we were going to seize the opportunities of the dynamics of global trade, such as Southeast Asia, Latin America, and Africa. These are the regions that we do not have a strong business footprint yet. But of course, as a listed company, we will try to look for candidates and targets. Of course, the goal is to provide good services at the terminal and logistics services for our clients.
Thank you very much. There is a question from HSBC online. The question is whether or not the CapEx has been used last year. Where do you use your CapEx? This year, how much is your CapEx estimation and for what purpose? Thank you.
2023, the actual CapEx stood at $700 million for two things. First is the PP&E at the terminal, $430 million. For the Chancay Terminal, $280 million, specifically. Second is equity investment, about $270 million, including our 30% equity intake of Xiamen Terminal, Xiamen Haitao, $94 million. Hamburg acquisition, about $50 million. For the year 2024, we have an estimation of CapEx of $1.37 billion , $850 million for fixed asset investment in Peru, Xiamen, and Wuhan, our terminals. That's for fixed asset and upgrades of facilities. For Peru, we will have $460 million. Our equity investment will be $520 million. Putting them all together, we have $1.37 billion .
This is our plan of CapEx. As mentioned by my colleague, we will try to identify some investment candidate across the world. Of course, that will be falling within our upper limit of CapEx for the year of 2024. The actual CapEx remained quite stable, I should say, over the years.
I think we will take the last question.
Interlogic, Celine. For your subsidiary and non-subsidiary, how are you balancing your investment? What would be the logic for your subsidiary or non-subsidiary terminals? Do you have any regional preferences? How about the investment return? Do you have any minimum threshold for your investment returns? Third is green transformation for vessels. My question for you is whether or not you have any new energy projects down the road in your pipeline. Thank you.
When we are investing in our terminals, we will make sure that it lines up with our global strategy. Meaning to make sure that it caters for the demands of our clients, the feeder and the main line, as well as the hubs, so that we can identify potential candidates for terminal investments. We would, of course, like to have a subsidiary rather than non-subsidiaries. For existing presence, we probably will not cover that. Again, we were trying to go to new turfs, new territories where we have never set our foot in. For hubs, we will try to have holding equity. Of course, as the actual project per se, we may or may not be able to have the controlling equity. But we will seek non-subsidiary opportunity as well. That actually is case by case.
Investment return, we do not have a specific percentage threshold as to how much of an investment return we're going to have. Strategically, we hope that it would support our global strategy, and second is that we would love to drive long-term return and be able to sustain our long-term business growth. New energy question. Just as Mr. Zhu mentioned before, we have shore power percentage of 100%. The RTGC oil to electricity rate is 97%. Local transportation, we also have over 40% digitalization at electrified rate. From this year to next year, we will try to further increase the percentage of electrification. We hope that we can move up to over 50% from 40%. Green energy in Tianjin Port Container Terminal, we will continue to increase the energy efficiency for Jinjiang and Xiamen Haicang CFS.
We will try to have distributed PV projects in overseas Piraeus Container Terminal in Greece. We are also promoting PV power.
Thank you. In the interest of time, we will take one last question.
Thank you. From Goldman Sachs. I have two questions. First is that your terminal volume throughput 3%-4%. How about the ASP? Bohai Rim performed very well in 2023. My question is which category or what destination country is driving up the volume?
For ASP, the year 2023, China ASP increased by 3.5%. Overseas ASP increased by 4%. This is mainly due to a number of factors. First is the optimization of source portfolio. For the optimization of our TEU portfolio so that we can have a better ASP. Second is that we provide some value-added services. For instance, last year, Xiamen Ocean Gate Terminal and Zeebrugge, we handled over 120,000 vehicles, which is a very good value-added services that contributes to our ASP.
Also, we have agreement renews in overseas terminals. We have been able to follow the CPI trajectory on agreed prices. In China, the tariffs is also moved in sync with the market trend, and therefore, we had some good increase on ASP in both China and overseas. This year, we hope that we can maintain a good momentum and trajectory of ASP so as to drive better profit. Thank you very much. I think this concludes today's result announcement.
Thank you very much for participating.