News
Containerized shipments exported from Asia to Europe in December 2016 amounted to 15,080,341 TEUs, which increased a mild 1.2% from the previous calendar year, according to a report recently unveiled by the Japan Maritime Center (JMC). The annual total enjoyed the first year-on-year improvement in two years, but failed to reach the all-time high of 15.39 million TEUs set in 2014. In breakdown, dry containers rose 1.3% to 14,856,572 TEUs, while reefer containers accounted for the balance of 223,769 TEUs, which fell 6.3%.
Looking more closely at outbound containers by trade, those to southern and northern Europe went up 0.8% to 9,766,754 TEUs; to the eastern Mediterranean and the Black Sea, up 0.2% to 2,650,490 TEUs and to the western Mediterranean and northern Africa, up 3.9% to 2,663,097 TEUs. They all achieved the first growth from a year earlier in two years.
By origin in Asia, exports from China inflated 2.6% to 10,770,610 TEUs, holding the largest share. China was followed by South Korea, from which 1,056,108 TEUs were shipped, which climbed 0.9%. In contrast, those from Vietnam, finishing in third place, waned 0.6% to 614,736 TEUs. Ranking fourth, containers exported from Japan plunged 8.4% to 486,600 TEUs. Those from Thailand and Taiwan diminished 2.5% to 499,257 TEUs and 2% to 372,936 TEUs, coming in fifth and sixth places, respectively.
Meanwhile, the JMC report, which had been compiled from statistical data provided by Container Trades Statistics (CTS) of the U.K., indicated that inbound containers from Europe to Asia nearly unchanged from a year earlier in 2016, expanding a minute 0.9% to 6,991,827 TEUs. By container type, dry containers did not change much from the previous year, either, rising 0.6% to 6,432,674 TEUs, but reefer containers grew 4.9% to 559,153 TEUs, achieving a year-on-year increase for the third consecutive year. A major factor was growth in demand for reefer cargo from Europe to China.
By trade, container imports from western and northern Europe went up 1.1% to 4,850,101 TEUs and from the eastern Mediterranean and the Black Sea, up 2.1% to 1,021,365 TEUs. Due to political instability, on the other hand, those from the western Mediterranean and northern Africa sank 1.2% to 1,120,361 TEUs, suffering a decline for the two consecutive months.
