News
Container shipments from Asia's 18 countries and territories to the U.S. declined 4.1% on year in November 2009 to 985,000 TEUs, further shrinking the rate of decline to the lowest of the year thanks to the recovering export volume of autoparts and general electric equipment, according to the Japan Maritime Center (JMC).
Exports from China continued to hold the largest share but slipped 3.8% from a year earlier to 644,000 TEUs while those from Hong Kong dropped 26.4% to 33,000 TEUs.
Containers from Japan fell 7.5% year on year to 49,000 TEU, avoiding a double-digit decline for the first time in the past 18 months. Shipments from South Korea showed a turnaround for the first time in 13 months, registering 18.6% increase over the previous year to 49,000 TEUs. Exports from Taiwan nearly leveled off with a slight 1.4% decline at 40,000 TEUs.
Westbound, shipments from the U.S. to Asia surged 35.1% from a year earlier to 514,000 TEUs boosted by bulk cargoes including oil-seeds, metallic minerals and grains.
