Emerging economies take up European slack

The slow-down in the world’s major economies has reduced total perishable export volume growth for the first six months to just 1% on last year. And while traditional EU/ UK markets have continued to decline, North America and the emerging economies of the Middle East, Far East and Africa have shown a positive growth trend – which is likely to continue into 2013, says Safmarine’s reefer executive for South Africa, John Mac Donald. The recent softening in the bunker price, which coincided with the start of the peak season, was a further positive sign. In the highly competitive global market, there’s a growing trend among reefer shippers to quickly switch volumes to different markets in order to maximise returns, says Mac Donald. “For example, many have focused on Asian markets which are more attractive because of their ability to return good prices for fruit that would usually have to compete with high import regulation costs in the European Union.” While the economic woes of Europe are well documented, Mac Donald says Europe remains an important market for Safmarine. The line has seen marginal growth in the Europe market this year, compared to a drop in volumes last year, even though demand on the whole has reduced. The Europe-SA service – operated by Safmarine/ Maersk, MOL and DAL – was recently enhanced with the addition of an eighth vessel to improve schedule reliability of northbound reefer cargo to Rotterdam, Tilbury and Bremerhaven. CAPTION: John Mac Donald … ‘Asian markets more attractive.’