[photopress:container_ship.jpg,full,alignright]Against the story that precedes this from Maersk comes news that strong US export growth is not enough to offset the trade imbalance on the transpacific route with shipping lines still struggling to cope with crippling operational costs.
Container shipping lines in the Westbound Transpacific Stabilisation Agreement said in a statement that while eastbound traffic grew by less than one percent in 2007, the volume of loaded containers shipped from Asia was still more than twice that of loaded container volume for return US exports.
In other words Asia, specifically China, is shipping more than it takes back. A fairly obvious conclusion.
A sharp increase in Asia demand for US products, driven primarily by the weak US dollar, along with a significant falloff in eastbound volumes as the US economy has slowed, has resulted in little to no new capacity entering the trade.
WTSA chairman Ron Widdows, who is also CEO of Singapore-based container line APL, said, ‘No one sets out to turn away business, but at this point carriers face hard choices with each sailing about how best to balance competing customer demands for limited vessel space and equipment.
[photopress:logistics_container_ship_1_1_2.jpg,full,alignleft]’Carriers are doing the best they can to work with their customers to satisfy their need for space under very difficult circumstances.’
Westbound cargo grew nearly 17% in 2007, with a further 12-13% growth forecast over 2008-09.
Widdows acknowledged that, for the first time in over a decade, some US exporters to Asia have experienced difficulty getting container equipment delivered to their premises for loading after having made a booking.
Source: CargoNews