THE container trade from Asia to west coast North America is now struggling to ward off the effects of the trade war, according to London research house Drewry Maritime Advisors.
'It has been a tough year so far for carriers in the Asia-West Coast North America container trade. The unpredictable trade war between the US and China that last year provided a welcome boost to the eastbound market has this year had the reverse effect,' said its analysts.
'Last year?s annual growth rate of 5.7 per cent was artificially stimulated by the dispute and was always likely to regress, but the extent to which growth has contracted has forced lines to recalibrate their products.
'After eight months, loaded traffic from Asia to WCNA (covering the US, Canada and Mexico) had shrunk by nearly three per cent. The slack was at least picked up by the smaller Asia to east coast North America route, which increased by almost six per cent to produce a flat total net result for the year-to-date period.
'More recent US-only data for September from PIERS showed a continuation of that trend with shipments from Asia to west coast North America falling by 5.8 per cent, versus a 6.9 per cent rise to other coasts,' Drewry analysts concluded
WORLD SHIPPING
'It has been a tough year so far for carriers in the Asia-West Coast North America container trade. The unpredictable trade war between the US and China that last year provided a welcome boost to the eastbound market has this year had the reverse effect,' said its analysts.
'Last year?s annual growth rate of 5.7 per cent was artificially stimulated by the dispute and was always likely to regress, but the extent to which growth has contracted has forced lines to recalibrate their products.
'After eight months, loaded traffic from Asia to WCNA (covering the US, Canada and Mexico) had shrunk by nearly three per cent. The slack was at least picked up by the smaller Asia to east coast North America route, which increased by almost six per cent to produce a flat total net result for the year-to-date period.
'More recent US-only data for September from PIERS showed a continuation of that trend with shipments from Asia to west coast North America falling by 5.8 per cent, versus a 6.9 per cent rise to other coasts,' Drewry analysts concluded
WORLD SHIPPING