News
The total volume of international multimodal cargo imported to and exported from Japan in the second half of fiscal 2016 (October 2016-March 2017) increased 10.2% year on year to 59.012 million revenue tons (R/T), achieving the first double-digit improvement in two years and reaching an all-time high for the second consecutive term, according to Japan International Freight Forwarders Association Inc. (JIFFA).
JIFFA recently conducted a survey among its member forwarders and received valid responses from 458 members.
In fiscal 2016 (April 2016-March 2017), as a consequence, imports to Japan of international multimodal shipments, which do not include those moved among third economies or co-loaded with other carriers, amounted to a record-high 71.78 million R/T, which increased 5.4% from the previous fiscal year. Meanwhile, exports climbed 3.8% to 40.395 million R/T, which was the second best yearly throughput. In total, they swelled 5.8% to 112.17 million R/T, exceeding the 100-million-R/T line for two years in a row.
Imports to Japan of international multimodal shipments recovered remarkably in the second half of fiscal 2016, surging 10.8% year on year to a record 37.735 million R/T. By origin, those from China managed to remain on an upward trend, although growth was slight, rising 1.3% to 17.56 million R/T. Ranked second were those from the U.S., which jumped 88.1% to 3.3 million R/T and came back dramatically from seventh place. Those from Hong Kong came in third, which soared 39.7% to 2.866 million R/T and overtook those from Vietnam. Imports from China and Hong Kong totaled slightly over 30.42 million R/T, which swelled approximately 5.4%. They accounted for more than half the total (54.1%) but shrank a little less than 3% from a year earlier. The fourth largest import source was Europe, from which 2.49 million R/T were carried, hiking 22.8%. Imports from Vietnam finished in fifth place, climbing 1.9% to 2.356 million R/T.
Meanwhile, 21.28 million R/T of international multimodal cargo was exported from Japan in the six-month period in question, which increased 9.2% from a year earlier and exceeded the 20-million-R/T mark for the first time in four terms. Exports to China enjoyed the leading share, growing 16.5% to 4.51 million R/T, which achieved the first double-digit increase in four terms and reached an all-time high. Finishing in second place, those to the U.S. managed to improve year on year thanks to robustness in the U.S. economy, which hiked 0.8% to 2.836 million R/T. The recovery of the EU economy helped those to Europe come in third, which rose 33.8% to exceed the two-million-R/T line at 2.128 million R/T. Shipments to South Korea, in contrast, fell 7.5% to 1.987 million R/T, climbing down to fourth place. Ranking fifth, those to Vietnam ballooned 73.3% to cross the one-million-R/T mark to total 1.255 million R/T. Those to Thailand, which was the fifth largest export destination last time, inflated 11.8% to 1.246 million R/T, but suffer a demotion to sixth place.
In total, exports to and imports from China amounted to 22.07 million R/T, which improved 4.1% from the second half of the previous fiscal year and held the largest share of the pie. Ranked second place and below were as follows: those to and from the U.S., up 34.3% to 6.136 million R/T; to and from Europe, up 27.6% to 4.618 million R/T; to and from Hong Kong, up 35.3% to 4.112 million R/T and to and from South Korea, down 2.7% to 3.997 million R/T.
