GLOBAL container trade fell slightly in June this year compared to May but was nevertheless 7.1% higher than June 2023.
London-based Container Trade Statistics reported – with the usual caveats that figures may be adjusted upon receipt of additional information – that seaborne box trade hit 15,686,081 TEU in June 2024, down from May’s 15,954,664 TEU in May but by far the second highest monthly volume in over 12 months.
Global freight rates also continued their steady climb since April (83), reaching 100 on the price index and, again, far and away the highest level achieved in over 12 months. In October 2023 the index was at just 69.
With the exception of the trade from North America to Oceania, which declined by a rather sharp 6.8% year-on-year, June showed growth of varying degrees across most local import and export trade lanes.
Looking first at imports, Far East (which in CTS terms incorporates N& E Asia and South East Asia) to Australasia grew by 19.3% y-o-y, Europe to Australasia was up 5.8%, intra-Australasia up 0.2%, Middle East/ISC up 18.6% and Latin America up 20.1%. The rather minor Sub Saharan Africa-Austrasia route was down 11.9%.
Overall, imports were up 13.5%.
Exports in June 2024 rose 6.5% y-o-y to the Far East, 7.3% to Europe, 11.5% to North America, a massive 53.3% to the Middle East/ISC, 17.3% to Latin America and 12.7% to Sub Saharan Africa.
In total June exports rose 10.2%.
For the first six months of 2024, CTS registered 12.8% growth in imports, compared to January-June 2023, and 11.2% in exports.
