News
Overall volume of oceangoing containers imported to and exported from Japan will be under the influence of the Great East Japan Earthquake in the first half of fiscal 2011 （April-September 2011） but return to a recovery track in the second half （October 2011-March 2012）, according to Nittsu Research Institute and Consulting, Inc. （NRIC）.
The Tokyo-based think tank, which recently unveiled a revision of its economic and cargo transport projections for fiscal 2011, anticipated that growth in container throughput will contract from double to single digits.
Quantitatively, nevertheless, the total volume will manage to increase year on year, going up 2.6% to 12.623 million TEUs.
The NRIC report indicated that exports of containers from the nine major ports of Japan will fall from a year earlier in the first quarter （April-June） resulting from declines in auto parts/components and electrical machinery in the aftermath of the devastating earthquake that hit eastern Japan in March.
However, thanks to steady growth in the global economy, they will begin to pick up in the second quarter （July-September）.
On a full-year scale, container exports from Japan will reach as far as they did in fiscal 2010, rising a slight 0.2% to 5.302 million TEUs.
In respect to imports, consumer goods will not grow as much as expected because of a downturn in consumer confidence, NRIC said.
On the other hand, machinery/equipment will become brisk in the second half owing to a recovery in the number of capital investment projects.
As such, imports of containerized cargoes to Japan will hike 4.5% year on year to 7.321 million TEUs.
