News
Leading shipping companies moved 1.096 million TEUs of container in December 2017 among 13 countries and regions in Asia in total, which increased 5.9% from a year earlier. Dry and reefer containers both grew quantitatively, going up 5.5% to 1.032 million TEUs and up 11.6% to 65,000 TEUs, respectively. In 2017, a total of 12.845 million TEUs traded on the intra-Asia route, which improved 1.7% from the previous year and enjoyed the first year-on-year in three years.
Exports from Japan declined 2.7% to 1.423 million TEUs last year. By destination, those destined to northern China were up 3.4% to 207,000 TEUs; to Fujian Province, up 6.6% to 13,000 TEUs and to southern China, up 1.5% to 118,000 TEUs. In contrast, exports to central China plunged 14% to 126,000 TEUs, and those to Hong Kong were as weak, falling 10.1% to 121,600 TEUs. Containers to Taiwan improved 3.9% to 198,000 TEUs, but those to other countries and regions were generally sluggish. Namely, those to the Philippines went down 3.9% to 44,471 TEUs; to Cambodia, down 6.4% to 3,000 TEUs; to Vietnam, down 0.7% to 108,000 TEUs; to Thailand, down 8% to 155,000 TEUs; to Malaysia, down 5.7% to 79,000 TEUs; to Singapore, down 16.4% to 28,000 TEUs; to Indonesia, down 13.5% to 71,000 TEUs and to Myanmar, down 36.9% to 3,000 TEUs.
Meanwhile, imports to Japan remained nearly unchanged from a year earlier in 2017, rising a minute 0.6% to 2.209 million TEUs. Shipments from northern China were up 3.1% to 287,000 TEUs; from Fujian, up 2.5% to 116,000 TEUs and from southern China, up 2.3% to 354,000 TEUs. On the other hand, imports from central China and Hong Kong decreased 7% to 334,000 TEUs and 8.5% to 86,000 TEUs, respectively. Containers from Taiwan went up 6.6% to 180,000 TEUs; from Vietnam, up 5.7% to 130,000 TEUs; from Cambodian, up 20.8% to 4,000 TEUs; from Malaysia, up 13% to 85,000 TEUs; from Indonesia, up 0.8% to 121,000 TEUs and from Myanmar, up 74.9% to 9,000 TEUs. However, those from the Philippines were down 5.4% to 89,000 TEUs; from Thailand, down 0.5% to 183,000 TEUs and from Singapore, down 14.8% to 31,378 TEUs.
