GLOBAL Port Tracker founder and CEO Ben Hackett expects a one per cent drop in US import volumes in the third quarter before volumes rebound by the end of the year, reports IHS media.
US imports from Asia saw a year-on-year decline in 2019 for the first time in 10 years as the trade war resulted in a 10 per cent drop in Chinese imports.
Imports are expected to decline further in January and February before turning higher in March, said Mr Hackett.
US imports from Asia last year fell 2.2 per cent to 16.6 million TEU from 16 million TEU in 2018, after increasing 7.6 per cent in 2018 from the previous year, according to PIERS data.
US imports from China were hit hard in 2019, declining 9.8 per cent to 10.5 million TEU from 11.7 million TEU in 2018. Retailers and manufacturers last year, spooked by the trade war, shifted some of their sourcing from China to Southeast Asia; imports from Asia, excluding China, increased 14.8 per cent in 2019, according to PIERS.
For the past 10 years, ports and carriers had assumed that import growth from Asia and China, the engines of the transpacific trade, would continue uninterrupted.
WORLD SHIPPING
US imports from Asia saw a year-on-year decline in 2019 for the first time in 10 years as the trade war resulted in a 10 per cent drop in Chinese imports.
Imports are expected to decline further in January and February before turning higher in March, said Mr Hackett.
US imports from Asia last year fell 2.2 per cent to 16.6 million TEU from 16 million TEU in 2018, after increasing 7.6 per cent in 2018 from the previous year, according to PIERS data.
US imports from China were hit hard in 2019, declining 9.8 per cent to 10.5 million TEU from 11.7 million TEU in 2018. Retailers and manufacturers last year, spooked by the trade war, shifted some of their sourcing from China to Southeast Asia; imports from Asia, excluding China, increased 14.8 per cent in 2019, according to PIERS.
For the past 10 years, ports and carriers had assumed that import growth from Asia and China, the engines of the transpacific trade, would continue uninterrupted.
WORLD SHIPPING