THROUGHPUT at the world's container ports grew by the second lowest annual rate ever recorded for the industry last year
Global container port throughput rises by 1.1pc in 2015: Alphaliner THROUGHPUT at the world's container ports grew by the second lowest annual rate ever recorded for the industry last year, surpassing only 2009's record low volume when the global financial crisis hit world trade, with volumes up just 1.1 per cent in 2015, according to Alphaliner's estimates based on a survey of 400 ports around the globe. Total container traffic was also up by less than half of the world's GDP growth of 3.1 per cent recorded by the International Monetary Fund (IMF) in 2015, marking the first time that global TEU volume growth to GDP multiplier fell below 1x. Several factors have contributed to lower container throughput growth in recent years, including the conversion from breakbulk to the containerised mode of transportation reaching a peak; the increased share of manufactured goods versus raw materials transported by containers, and a corresponding trend of miniaturisation of manufactured goods. Another factor for the container traffic decline is the slowdown in the rate of moving manufacturing activities to the Far East, especially to China.