News
Leading shipping companies moved a total of 1.126 million TEUs of containers in September among 13 countries and regions in Asia, which swelled 7.2% from a year earlier and registered a year-on-year increase for the sixth consecutive month. Dry and reefer container movements were both brisk, going up 7.2% to 1.06 million TEUs and up 5.5% to 66,000 TEUs, respectively. Exports from Japan fell 1.4% to 124,000 TEUs, suffering the first decrease from a year earlier in two months, but imports to the nation rose 1.2% to 199,000 TEUs, enjoying a year-on-year expansion for four months in a row. In the nine month from January, container traffic on the intra-Asia trade route declined 1.3% to 9.487 million TEUs.
Looking at September’s containerized shipments from Japan more closely by destination, those to northern China improved 4% to 176,000 TEUs, while those to central China remained nearly unchanged at 73,000 TEUs. Containers to Fujian Province and southern China went up 18.8% to 1,000 TEUs and up 5.8% to 10,000 TEUs, respectively. In contrast, those to Hong Kong sank 12.4% to 10,000 TEUs, and those to Taiwan, 0.4% to 17,000 TEUs.
As for shipments bound for Southeast Asia, those to Malaysia and Myanmar were the only sectors last month to achieve year-on-year increases, growing 4.8% to 8,000 TEUs and jumping 23.7% to 300 TEUs, respectively. On the other hand, those to other destinations in the region incurred decreases from a year earlier across the board. Exports to the Philippines went down 4.3% to 4,000 TEUs; to Vietnam, down 10% to 9,000 TEUs and to Thailand, down 2.3% to 14,000 TEUs. Those to Cambodia, Singapore and Indonesia were more much more stagnant, plunging 28.1% to 300 TEUs, 22.8% to 2,000 TEUs and 24.1% to 6,000 TEUs, respectively.
Focusing on imports to Japan, meanwhile, those from northern and southern China both grew from a year earlier in September, with the former going up 7.1% to 28,000 TEUs and the latter, up 9.7% to 32,000 TEUs. In contrast, containers from central China were down 2.2% to 28,000 TEUs and those from Fujian, down 9.7% to 9,000 TEUs. Imports from Hong Kong were sluggish as well, declining 5% to 8,000 TEUs.
Imports from Taiwan surged 11.4% to 16,000 TEUs, while those from the Philippines hiked 8% to 10,000 TEUs. Containers from Cambodia, Vietnam and Myanmar were far more favorable, soaring 50.9% to 500 TEUs, 37.7% to 3,000 TEUs and 32% to 700 TEUs, respectively. However, those from Thailand diminished 6.8% to 16,000 TEUs and from Malaysia, 2% to 7,000 TEUs. Imports from Singapore nosedived 65.4% to 3,000 TEUs. Containers from Indonesia were weak, too, shrinking 3.3% to 1,000 TEUs.
