The outcome of the US presidential elections will drive further instability in the container markets, with US imports poised to rise ahead of the potential imposition of new tariffs. Based on data collected since 2018, the cargo front loading could raise US container imports by as much as 10% to 15% in the next 3 months. Although this will drive up freight rates in the short term, the longer term impact of any trade war on global container volumes will be negative even though US import tariffs i
Rising geopolitical tensions have not dampened container trade growth in 2024, with 10 of the world’s largest ports reporting combined gains of 7.4% in the first 6 months of the year. Chinese ports recorded particularly strong gains, led by Shanghai (up 7.5%), Ningbo (up 8.4%), Shenzhen (up 14.9%) and Qingdao (9.0%) with Hong Kong the only main port to record negative figures during the first half. Los Angeles/Long Beach rebounded with a 14.7% gain with June notably up by 16.8%. Singapore al
Global container port throughput has reached an estimated 905m in 2023, representing a annual growth of 0.7% compared to 2022. China has withheld the publication of their official container port handling statistics for the last 3 months, with official data only available to November 2023 which showed YTD growth at Chinese ports (including Hong Kong) to have reached 3.9% in the first 11 months of the year. The Chinese port data has been inflated since 2022 with Chinese throughput growth outpaci