News
The combined volume of containerized shipments that major shipping companies transported in February among 13 countries and regions in Asia decreased 1% from the corresponding month of 2015 to 1.094 million TEUs, suffering the first negative growth in eight months. Exports from Japan plunged 9% to 135,000 TEUs, which marked a year-on-year decline for the fifth consecutive month. In contrast, imports to Japan rose 9.7% to 187,000 TEUs, enjoying a year-on-year improvement for eight months in a row.
In the first two months (January-February), the throughput of intra-Asia containers amounted to 2.363 million TEUs, which hiked 1.8% from a year earlier. Containers from Japan diminished 10.4% to 253,000 TEUs, but those to Japan climbed 6.7% to 382,000 TEUs.
Looking at containerized shipments exported from Japan to the 12 other economies in the region in February by destination, those to China shrank a remarkable 23.7% to 47,000 TEUs and to Taiwan, 10.2% to 57,000 TEUs. On the other hand, those to Hong Kong were steady, growing 2.9% year on year to 10,000 TEUs. As for containers destined to Southeast Asia, those to Thailand fell 2.5% to 16,000 TEUs but managed to hold the largest share in the region. Those to Vietnam, Malaysia and the Philippines all registered a double-digit increase, going up 11.1% to 9,000 TEUs, up 11.8% to 8,000 TEUs and 12.5% to 4,200 TEUs, respectively.
Regarding imports to Japan by origin, those from China swelled 24.2% to 93,000 TEUs, but those from Taiwan contracted 13.1% to 13,000 TEUs and those from Hong Kong, 27.5% to 6,000 TEUs. In respect to inbound containers from Southeast Asia, those from Thailand sank 10.8% to 18,000 TEUs and those from Vietnam, 0.8% to 9,200 TEUs. However, those from Indonesia improved 7.4% to 12,000 TEUs, while those from the Philippines were more brisk, surging a notable 41.4%.
