CONTAINER LINES enjoyed a buoyant first half of 2024 in almost all Australasian trades, according to London-based Container Trade Statistics.
Total trade grew by a noteworthy 12.7% year-on-year, to 3.5 million TEU, with imports rising 14.7% and exports 11.5%, expanding even further the gap between the two over the first six months.
It is always pertinent to note that CTS describes its figures as ‘preliminary’, and treats North & East Asia and South East Asia as a single region, the ‘Far East’.
Total imports for 1H24 were 1,965,200 TEU, compared to 1,713,400 in 1H23 and 1,921,900 in 1H22.
Exports reached 1,349,300 in 1H24, versus 1,210,600 in 1H23 and 1,152,600 TEWU in1H22.
Broken down by region, imports from the Far East grew 19.3% to 1,404,700 in 1H24, y-o-y while exports rose 6.5% to 930,300 TEU. Imports from Europe rose 5.8% to 315,000 TEU while exports rose 7.3% to 98,200 TEU. Imports from North America, however, declined 6.8% y-o-y to 125,800 but exports were healthy, up 11.5% to 119,300, the highest in three years.
Middle East/ISC imports achieved 18.7% first half growth y-o-y, to 88,400 TEU while Australasian exports to the region were up an even more substantial 53.3% to 168,600 TEU. Of lesser trades, imports from Sub-Saharan Africa fell away 11.3% to a modest 9100 TEU while exports were up 12.7% to 23,900 TEU. From Latin America growth was 20.7% to 22,200 and exports rose 16.9% to a still minor 9000 TEU.
Intra-Australasia trade was steady, growing by only 400 TEU to 156,700 TEU.
CTS reports that all-in freight rates for Australasia to the rest-of-the-world were “universally negative” in the second quarter of 2024, with Middle East/ISC showing the largest average drop of 41%. Interestingly, rate development was negative for every import trade too, excepting the Far East which saw a 9% gain in May and a 20% lift in June. Combined, this suggests carriers were unable to take price advantage of high demand in the first half, although subsequent quarter and half results are expected to paint a different picture.
