[090818.EN.BIZ] Global Box Volumes Continue to Rise, up 1.3pc in June to 14 Million TEU

CONTAINER shipping lines worldwide collectively transported 13.99 million TEU in June, up 1.3 per cent year on year, according to Container Trade Statistics (CTS).

Yet total shipments declined 4.4 per cent on a sequential basis on the back of a decrease in imports and exports to and from Asia, Europe and North America compared with May volumes, reported American Shipper.

On a year-on-year basis, containerised exports from Europe rose 8.7 per cent to 2.45 million TEU, while import volumes were up 3.1 per cent to 2.75 million TEU in June. Far East Asia export volumes grew 0.9 per cent to eight million TEU, while import volumes increased 2.5 per cent to 5.52 million TEU. North America export volumes dropped 1.1 per cent to 1.28 million TEU, while imports were up 3.3 per cent to 2.4 million TEU.

In the first half of the year total global volumes rose 3.8 per cent year on year to 82.9 million TEU, according to the industry analyst.

Container freight rates have faced downwards pressure from weakening demand growth and continuing overcapacity in the early part of 2018, however in the first week of August two of the main indices measuring spot rates showed increases.

Drewry's World Container Index jumped 13.5 per cent from the week before and 6.6 per cent year on year, while the Shanghai Shipping Exchange's Shanghai Containerised Freight Index slipped 0.8 per cent compared to the first week of August 2017 despite a 3.1 per cent sequential gain.

Source : HKSG.