News
Container Trades Statistics Ltd. (CTS) of the U.K. indicated in a report it had compiled that 12,425,991 TEUs of containers were traded worldwide in March, up 1% from a year earlier, remaining so favorable as to register a year-on-year improvement for six months in a row. The global freight rate index (100 points in 2008) was 66 points, down by one point to incur the first year-on-decline in two months. From a month earlier, however, it went up by one point from 65.
By region, the Far East imported 5,810,042 TEUs, growing a minute 0.2%, but exports from the region fell a severer 5.1% to 7,606,455 TEUs. Inbound containers to Europe decreased 4% to 2,644,667 TEUs, but its outbound containerized shipments climbed 1.5% to 2,540,577 TEUs. Containers to and from North America both shrank, with the former going down 7.4% to 2,152,894 TEUs and the latter, down 0.2% to 1,440,216 TEUs.
