News
Eastbound container trade from Asia to the U.S. rebounded from a year earlier in March 2014, surging 20.5% to 1,051,313 TEUs, according to a report released by the Japan Maritime Center (JMC). The second-highest volume for the month of March was handled on the trade, following the record of 1,055,112 TEUs made in 2007. In March last year, the trade was adversely impacted by the timing of Lunar New Year, seeing as few as 870,000 TEUs of containers moved.
In the first three months (January-March), a total of 3,321,942 TEUs were exported from Asia to the U.S., which grew 4.8% to help container movement on the trade take a favorable turn from the first two months, when it was on a downward trend.
The JMC, which had compiled the report from statistical data provided by the Port Import/Export Reporting Service (PIERS) of the U.S., projected that eastbound containers could increase 4% to 5% to exceed 14,000,000 TEUs and reach an all-time high on an annual scale this year, if there are no major changes such as shifts in the international situation.
Meanwhile, westbound shipments from the U.S. to Asia were not brisk in March due to severe declines in those to China, Southeast Asia and South Asia, falling 9.8% to 522,547 TEUs from the corresponding month of 2013.
In the first two months, they decreased 5.1% to 1,077,741 TEUs in total.
The JMC indicated in a different report it had produced from data provided by Container Trades Statistics, Ltd. (CTS) of the U.K. that container trade from Asia to Europe was robust in March, soaring 13.7% from a year earlier to 1,243,280 TEUs.
Container movement was steady in the first three months as well—although it was somewhat affected by Lunar New Year—improving 6.1% 3,540,822 TEUs.
Container shipments from Europe to Asia were brisk both in March and the first three months, which went up 3.6% to 603,872 TEUs and up 2.6% to 1,702,771 TEUs, respectively.
