15.04.09Intra-Asia Container Traffic Surges 13.7% in February

The combined volume of containerized shipments that major shipping companies moved in February among 13 Asian economies grew 13.7% from a year earlier to 1.104 million TEUs.

Exports from Japan to the 12 other countries and regions declined 6.7% to 148,000 TEUs. Although accounting for 41% of the total, those to China plunged a notable 11.4% to 62,000 TEUs, as this year’s Lunar New Yew fell in the month in question. Containers to other major trade partners were also sluggish, for example, with those to Taiwan plummeting 12.1% to 16,000 TEUs and to Hong Kong, 20.3% to 10,000 TEUs. In contrast, imports to Japan were brisk, marking a double-digit improvement of 15.3% to reach 171,000 TEUs.

In the first two months (January-February), a total of 2.32 million TEUs of containers were carried on the intra-Asia trade, which went up 7.9% year on year. Containers from Japan fell 2.8% to 282,000 TEUs, while those to Japan hiked 2.9% to 358,000 TEUs.