News
Container trade from Asia to Europe was sluggish in March 2013, decreasing 7.2% year on year to 1.1 million TEUs, according to Container Trades Statistics Ltd. (CTS) of the U.K.
In contrast, containers from Europe to Asia were not, increasing 4.3% to 576,000 TEUs.
In the first three months, Asia exported 3.3 million TEUs in total to Europe, going down 1.4% from a year earlier, and imported 1.6 million TEUs from Europe, down a minute 0.6%.
Looking at containerized shipments carried from Asia to Europe in March by destination, CTS said that those to North Europe declined nearly 10 % in March due to sluggishness in the European economy, waning 9.7% to 698,052 TEUs.
They were slow on a three-month scale as well, falling 2.8% to 2.1 million TEUs in the first quarter.
Container movement to the Western Mediterranean and North Africa was weak both in March and in the first three months, diminishing 8.9% to 180,817 TEUs and 3.4% to 558,386 TEUs, respectively.
Containers bound for the Eastern Mediterranean and the Black Sea were also slow, which contacted 7.2% to 1.1 million TEUs in March and 1.4% to 3.3 million TEUs in the first three months.
