Rates hit lowest in 25 years despite 910,000 TEU cut in voided sailings
CONTAINER shipping freight rates swung like a pendulum last year from highs of US$1,850 per FEU in mid-January 2015 to plunge to $450 by the first week of March, same mark as in the early part of December.
London's Drewry Maritime Research predicts spot rate volatility will continue to haunt the Asia to North Europe trade this year. However, the analysts still expect that freight rates will likely to climb in the coming weeks - the question is where will the pendulum come to rest, next?
The removal of 910,000 TEU in total last year from the head-haul supply, equivalent to eight per cent of gross capacity, didn't seem to make much difference, and failed to strengthen rates despite the voiding of 70 sailings during the course of the year, particularly, on loops operated by smaller vessels.
Volumes on the Asia to North Europe trade in 2015 can now be said to be the worst in 25 years, other than in 2009, reported Global Trade, Newport Beach, California.
On a positive note, December's lift of 905,000 TEU set a new record in the Asia to North Europe trade for the last calendar month of the year, and represented an increase of 200,000 TEU over November, Drewry said.
Westbound volumes in the fourth quarter still fell year on year by 2.2 per cent resulting in an overall cargo decline in 2015 of 3.5 per cent, again the worst annual result in 25 years.
Import totals for the final quarter reveal that the negative impact of sanctions in Russia and low global oil prices is dissipating with containers arriving in Russia down by only 11.5 per cent compared to the same period in 2014, but volumes shrank by 25 per cent overall in 2015.
UK imports grew by 2.3 per cent in 2015 with fourth quarter flows rising 2.9 per cent. French imports ended the year up one per cent, although the final three months saw volumes shrink by 4.1 per cent.
Nine of the 23 countries served by the north European gateway ports returned some degree of growth. But only the UK, Poland, Spain and Portugal were able to post demand growth in the final three months of the year.
CONTAINER shipping freight rates swung like a pendulum last year from highs of US$1,850 per FEU in mid-January 2015 to plunge to $450 by the first week of March, same mark as in the early part of December.
London's Drewry Maritime Research predicts spot rate volatility will continue to haunt the Asia to North Europe trade this year. However, the analysts still expect that freight rates will likely to climb in the coming weeks - the question is where will the pendulum come to rest, next?
The removal of 910,000 TEU in total last year from the head-haul supply, equivalent to eight per cent of gross capacity, didn't seem to make much difference, and failed to strengthen rates despite the voiding of 70 sailings during the course of the year, particularly, on loops operated by smaller vessels.
Volumes on the Asia to North Europe trade in 2015 can now be said to be the worst in 25 years, other than in 2009, reported Global Trade, Newport Beach, California.
On a positive note, December's lift of 905,000 TEU set a new record in the Asia to North Europe trade for the last calendar month of the year, and represented an increase of 200,000 TEU over November, Drewry said.
Westbound volumes in the fourth quarter still fell year on year by 2.2 per cent resulting in an overall cargo decline in 2015 of 3.5 per cent, again the worst annual result in 25 years.
Import totals for the final quarter reveal that the negative impact of sanctions in Russia and low global oil prices is dissipating with containers arriving in Russia down by only 11.5 per cent compared to the same period in 2014, but volumes shrank by 25 per cent overall in 2015.
UK imports grew by 2.3 per cent in 2015 with fourth quarter flows rising 2.9 per cent. French imports ended the year up one per cent, although the final three months saw volumes shrink by 4.1 per cent.
Nine of the 23 countries served by the north European gateway ports returned some degree of growth. But only the UK, Poland, Spain and Portugal were able to post demand growth in the final three months of the year.