[050211.EN.SEA] European Trades End 2010 On Good Note With Continued Growth

END of year trade figures are now beginning to come in, with the latest numbers revealing a year-on-year growth of 15.4 per cent year on year in European imports for the January to November period in 2010, according to Container Trade Statistics (CTS).  European exports on the other hand, were up 10.3 per cent over 2009 for the same period.  Breaking these numbers down a little further, the Europe-Asia trade remained relatively flat, dipping marginally for the month of November to 463,600 TEU down from 463,960 TEU in 2009.  However, November's figure does represent a month-on-month increase of 3.57 per cent over October 2010. On the head haul Asia-Europe leg of the trade, volumes grew an impressive 13.8 per cent year on year to 1.1 million TEU... November's figure also represented a month-on-month hike of 1.02 per cent over October 2010.  Meanwhile, the latest report from CTS reveals that freight rates on the trade fell back to almost 100 on the rate index in November, after reaching a high of 120 in August.  Rates also dropped in November on the Europe export leg to Asia, settling at an index rate of 105, down from a high of roughly 115 in July.  European exports to North America grew by 5.18 per cent in November to 258,000 TEU, up from the 245,288 TEU handled in November 2009. However, the month's total volumes represented a 4.3 per cent decline month on month from October.

Source : CSM, 17.01.11.