News
Containers from the U.S. to 18 economies in Asia fell 3.1% from a year earlier to 6,658,906 TEUs last year, suffering the first year-on-year decline in five years, according to the Japan Maritime Center (JMC). Shipments to Southeast Asia and South Asia remained brisk. Regarding those to China, which account for more than 40% of the total, however, paper, animal feed and other major commodities decreased quantitatively. As such, containers to China registered the first year-on-year contraction since 1996. Other adverse factors included delays in cargo handling and shortages in empty containers and chassis, both of which were resulting from protracted negotiations between labor and management at ports on the west coast of North America.
Compiling a preliminary report on container movement in 2014 between the U.S. and Asia from statistical data provided by the Port Import/Export Reporting Service (PIERS) of America, the JMC added that containers from the U.S. to China shrank 5.9% to 2,857,068 TEUs, but that China managed to remain as the U.S.’ leading trade partner. Those to Japan went down 6.8% to 787,471 TEUs and to South Korea, down 2.9% to 632,642 TEUs. As for shipments to Southeast Asia, those to Indonesia, Vietnam and Thailand rose 8.3% to 238,318 TEUs, 2.7% to 205,843 TEUs and 7.3% to 156,409 TEUs, respectively. Concerning South Asia-destined containers, those to India increased 8% to 361,566 TEUs.
