News
Nippon Yusen Kaisha (NYK)’s Research Group on Dec. 5 unveiled the 2017 edition of its annual report on global container transport and the deployment of containerships. It is expected the number of newbuildings to be completed will begin declining in 2019, although global trade is, in contrast, projected to remain massive. As such, NYK anticipates that freight rates will turn upward next year.
In 2016, a total of 196 million TEUs of containers were moved worldwide, which increased 3.1% from the previous year. The report indicates that global container throughput will grow 4.9% to 205 million TEUs in 2017, reaching an all-time high.
By trade route, containers from Asia to North America hiked 5.5% year on year in the 10 months from January to October, while those carried backwards on the same route decreased 0.2% in the eight months from January to August. NYK foresees that eastbound containers will remain as robust on a yearly scale, too, setting a new record for the fourth consecutive year. As such, the imbalance between outbound and inbound shipments is believed to expand. The carrier is concerned that it could have an adverse impact on the routes’ profitability.
Exports from Asia to Europe improved 5.4% year on year in the January-September term, while imports from Europe to Asia were more powerful, going up 6.1%. It is estimated in the NYK report that containers will increase on both directions.
Looking at container tonnage at the end of August, 3.284 TEUs were allocated on the Asia/North America trade, which swelled 4% from a year earlier, and 4.258 million TEUs on the Asia/Europe trade, which increased 0.4%. A total of 13 ultra-large containerships of more than 10,000 TEUs had been deployed on the routes, while eight freighters had been removed in total. Larger-capacity vessels are now operated on the trades, from which an increasing number of ships are being cascaded.
As for new containership completions, they are expected to go up 0.4% in number in 2017, and up 4.9% in 2018, but the year-on-year growth is foreseen to fall all the way to 0.8% in 2019. Thanks to a rise in container movement, therefore, the gap between tonnage supply and cargo demand is projected to decrease then.
