Asia-Europe shipping traffic on fast growth route

The level of dependence of the Asian maritime industry on US is getting stronger, especially for countries such as India and China.

However, things could change in the next few years with demand from Europe increasing. Large container ships have already started plying between Asia and Europe. It appears that Asia-US container traffic grew to the order of 6.9 per cent in the first half of 2007, rising to around 8 per cent for the first nine months, relative to the same period in 2006. Analyst forecasts predict, on average, similar or slightly higher cargo growth for 2008. That is slower than the 9.6 per cent growth posted for the full year 2006 to 6.5 million 40-foot containers, but it, nonetheless, reflects considerable resilience among US consumers, amid uncertainty over sub-prime mortgages, home values, tightening credit, high gas prices and a weak dollar, according to the Transatlantic Stabilization Agreement. The TSA is a research and discussion group of 14 major container shipping lines offering ocean and inland transportation, logistics and supply chain services from Asia to the US.

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