News
Container movement among 12 other Asian economies was steady in the first quarter (January-March) of 2015, growing 3.3% year on year to 3.548 million TEUs. However, imports to and exports from Japan were both sluggish, going down 2.5% to 552,000 TEUs and down 1.7% to 442,000 TEUs, respectively.
In March alone, containerized shipments handled on the intra-Asia trade decreased 4.3% to 1.228 million TEUs. Inbound shipments to Japan fell 10.9% to 194,000 TEUs, but outbound containers improved a minute 0.4% to 160,000 TEUs.
Looking at containers carried to Japan from the 12 partners in the region in the first three months by origin, those from China declined 3.2% to 255,000 TEUs, which held a share of 46% of the pie. Imports from Taiwan, Hong Kong, the Philippines and Singapore were all weaker than a year earlier, waning 9.3% to 49,000 TEUs, 14.7% to 25,000 TEUs, 17.6% to 16,000 TEUs and 1.8% to 9,000 TEUs, respectively. In contrast, shipments from Thailand went up 1% to 55,000 TEUs; from Indonesia, up 12.5% to 35,000 TEUs; from Vietnam, up 8% to 31,000 TEUs and from Malaysia, up 3.1% to 23,000 TEUs.
Meanwhile, exports of containers from Japan were not brisk from January to March, particularly to other countries and regions in East Asia. Those to China diminished 7.2% to 172,000 TEUs, which accounted for 39% of the total. Exports to Taiwan shrank 2.9% to 50,000 TEUs and to Hong Kong, 5.5% to 35,000 TEUs. As for containers to Southeast Asia, shipments to Thailand sank a very slight 0.2% to 47,000 TEUs, while those to the Philippines were much more stagnant, plunging 15.2% to 11,000 TEUs. On the other hand, export to other major partners were robust, with those to Indonesia surging 10.7% to 26,000 TEUs; to Vietnam, 33.4% to 25,000 TEUs; to Malaysia, 7.4% to 22,000 TEUs and to Singapore, 4% to 11,000 TEUs.
