Ports/Logistics

US west coast ports remain open despite the work actions taken by the ILWU last week, with the build up of vessels waiting at west coast anchorages largely under control. Although the Pacific Maritime Association (PMA) said that cargo operations at the port of Seattle were shut down on 9 and 10 June, this was disputed by the ILWU. Port productivity at Seattle and Tacoma have slowed with over the past week with port stays extended by several days and vessel berthing delays continuing although t

Chinese port data for January remains unavailable, with the publication of official government monthly statistics conspicuously delayed since September 2022. Chinese port data have been inflated since July 2022 with throughput volumes still showing positive growth year-on-year while volumes reported at ports in the rest of the world are clearly in decline. Chinese port volumes have historically led global volume growth, with the pick-up in Chinese port volumes in late 2020 and early 2021 foresh

The cyclical or short term trend is the down turn in the container shipping volume , which has seen global port throughput falling for 5 consecutive months since September 2022, driven by the destocking cycle in the US, soft housing market in the US impacting particularly the housing related shipments, inflation that reduces western consumers' disposable income, rising share of services relative to goods in consumption. The secular trend or the long term trend maybe the fall in China's contrib

Transpacific container volumes from Asia to the US slipped in the 2nd half of 2022 but still ended the full year with a 3% gain compared to 2021. Exports from China and Taiwan to the US were down -2% and -3% respectively yoy, but all the other key export regions registered positive growth, led by Vietnam (+12%), Thailand (+15%) and Indonesia (+18%). But the momentum has turned negative even for these emerging export markets in Southeast Asia, with all origins recording significant falls in the 2

Maersk has lowered its outlook for 2022 global container demand growth to between -4% to -2%, compared to its earlier guidance made in August 2022 of between -1% and +1%. Maersk had initially expected global container volumes to grow by +2% and 4% in February this year but had been repeatedly forced to revise its forecasts downwards. Despite Maersk’s negative outlook, Linerlytica still expects global container throughput growth to remain positive at 0.3% despite the sharply reduced volume proje

Global port throughput may be down 4.3% Mo and 0.2% YoY, based on Linerlytica's port sample of over 200 ports globally. Higher than expected volumes at Chinese ports has lifted global estimates for September marginally, but the trend remains negative with volumes still falling by 4.3% on a month to month basis, with a sharper drop expected in October. YTD volume growth in the first 9 months of 2022 is estimated to have reached 1.2% compared to the same period last year. But slower growth in

Container volumes handled at Nhava Sheva dropped in September compared to the previous 7 months, as the elevated demand over the past year is starting to ease. Growth at neighbouring Mundra is also showing signs of easing, despite the increase in overall capacity to the Indian subcontinent. Based on Linerlytica’s capacity survey, the overall capacity on South Asia and Middle East routes has grown by 6% in October compared to the same period last year. The utilization since week 39 dropped to 93

August throughput volumes reported so far continue to show weakness, with month on month (MoM) declines. Shanghai port has reported a -3.0% MoM drop compared to July volumes and a -3.4% YoY drop compared to August last year, in an early indication that overall volumes are already softening even though most of the main ports have not yet reported their August handling volumes. Singapore reported -0.7% MoM while Hong Kong reported -3.2% MoM for August.

Vietnam has grown to become the largest container market in SE Asia (excluding transhipment volumes), having overtaken the Philippines in 2007, Malaysia in 2009, Thailand in 2011 and Indonesia in 2020. Vietnam container port volumes have recovered strongly from the nationwide lockdowns in the second half of 2021 but there are also early signs of softening volumes, with Ho Chi Minh City and Cai Mep volumes down 3.9% in Jan-Jul 2022 compared to the same period last year. Northern Vietnam volumes

Global container port volumes have remained resilient in July with aggregated throughput from Linerlytica’s port sample of over 200 ports reaching an estimated new high of  67.07m teu for the month. Chinese ports posted a strong 10% growth in July, led by very strong gains in Shanghai and Ningbo. The volume recovery since lockdowns in Shanghai and parts of Jiangsu province were eased have helped to push the strong volume recovery in the Eastern China ports. Total throughput at Chinese ports re