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THE
Asia-Europe container trades in both directions
were disappointing, registering on the slightest
uptick from July to August, but still slightly
better than last year's lacklustre season.
Westbound
cargo flows in 2013 from Asia to North Europe,
covering the peak of the peak season in
August at 844,000 TEU compared to 837,000
TEU in July and 793,000 TEU in June.
Figures
from Container Trades Statistics (CTS) through
August shows a one per cent increase in
year-to-date volume to 6,183,000 TEU over
last year.
Like
westbound services, eastbound vessel capacity
also increased, but in this case by 3.5
per cent in August to 615,400 TEU, but it
fell 1.3 per cent in September to 607,100
TEU followed by another reduction of 1.4
per cent in October, down to 600,000 TEU.
Utilisation
differed wildly as expected. Asia-Europe
routes achieved 100 per cent ship utilisation
in August, but it didn't last into September,
when a slippage sparked a minor rate war
as carriers fought to retain market share
while worked to fill their ships, said London's
Drewry Maritime Research.
Europe-Asia
utilisation was more pronounced with space
on vessels sailing from Northern Europe
to Asia declining from 67 per cent in July
to 60 per cent in August and with September
heading down, taking freight rates with
it.
The
International Monetary System (IMF) estimates
0.3 per cent GDP growth in Europe this year,
compared to last year's 0.1 per cent last
year, offering more reason to hope with
its prediction of 1.4 per cent growth in
2014.
Ocean
carriers' response was to increase overall
westbound vessel capacity by three per cent
in August, up to 844,300 TEU, managed by
simply by not cancelling sailings, said
Drewry analysts in London.
But
sailings were cancelled in September, including
three from Maersk's AE7 service, bringing
total capacity down by 1.3 per cent to 834,000
TEU, which was followed by another 11 cancellations
in October, reducing capacity by another
1.4 per cent to 822,000 TEU, they said.
There
has been no other major westbound schedule
changes, only seasonal port pair adjustments
and vessel upgrades, including the deployment
of Evergreen's first 13,800-TEU ship on
its CEM service during September, as well
as adding APL's 10,700-TEUer on G6's Loop
6, enabling slow steaming from on a roundtrip
of 11 to 12 weeks.
With
the winter season approaching, ocean carriers
are increasing the number of sailings cancelled
between November and February, with G6 in
the lead, indicating growing concern in
the industry.
There
is also the complication posed by the P3
mega operational alliance between Maersk,
MSC and CMA CGM, which comes on stream in
second quarter next year - if its very existence
passes muster with regulatory authorities
in China, the US and the European Union.
Turning
to Europe-Asia, cargo from North Europe
to Asia did little better in August, falling
from 397,000 TEU in July to 366,000 TEU,
bringing year-to-date throughput to 3,090,000
TEU, up 3.8 per cent year on year.
Although
China continues to grow economically despite
its high wage inflation, its rate of growth
is slowing, added to which Northern European
suppliers of scrap paper and plastics, the
region's largest export, remained unable
to recapture their lost market share to
American suppliers in the third quarter.
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