THE JANUARY-SEPTEMBER 2024 period proved lucrative for container lines in Australasian trades, with imports rising 9.9% and exports 9.7%, albeit rates were more of a mixed bag.
Preliminary figures released by London-based Container Trade Statistics – always noted as subject to revision upon receipt of later information – show nine-month exports from Australasia rose to 2,028,200 TEU, compared to 1,849,100 for the same period in 2023 and 1,776,500 in 2022.
Imports jumped to 3,035,000 TEU from 2,761,100 in 2023 although 2022 was 2,958,700.
Total Australasian trade for the nine months was held back by a 2.8% fall on intra routes but still saw as 9.2% overall increase to 5,295,900 TEU.
The standout growth in exports was the Middle East/Indian Sub-Continent trade which saw a 39.7% lift from 179,000 in 2023 to 250,100 in January-September 2024. The lowest export growth, of a still-solid 5.4%, was to the ‘Far East’ (CTS always lumps North & East Asia, and South East Asia, together).
However, it was ‘Far East’ that dominated import increases, up 12.4% over 9-mos 2023 to 2,176,300 TEU. Shipments from Europe, the Middle East/ISC and Latin America also rose while North America and Sub-Saharan Africa fell.
CTS’s all-in rate levels from Australasia to the rest of the world were generally negative during the third quarter of 2024. The exceptions were Europe and sub-Saharan Africa, which respectively posted modest and substantial growth. Rates for exports to the Far East were down by almost 25%.
However the falls were more than compensated by 3Q 2024 rates for the import growth trades, which in September alone were up around 73% from the ‘Far East’ and 68% from the Middle East/ISC.
