European container volumes reflect economic woes

Container volumes through the main European ports are being affected by the financial woes of countries within the European Union, according to the Hackett Associates’ report Global Port Tracker: North Europe Trade Outlook. A knock-on effect will be felt by trading partners such as South Africa, where gross domestic product (GDP) contracted to 1,3% in the second quarter of 2011, the slowest rate in almost a year, according to Statistics South Africa. The Tracker Report by Hackett Associates and the Bremen Institute of Shipping Economics and Logistics (ISL) found that Le Havre, Antwerp, Zeebrugge, Rotterdam, Bremen/ Bremerhaven and Hamburg inbound and outbound container volumes declined from their March high as a result of economic turmoil and slowing Asian trade growth. Total volumes at the six ports in May increased 5,6% year-on-year to 3,48 million TEU. Le Havre and Zeebrugge showed declines. However, ISL spokesman Sönke Maatsch said the research still points to a record year for the ports. “Container traffic in the second quarter of 2011 was higher than in the previous record year 2008. “Compared with last year, container traffic grew by 8,6% in the second quarter. Even though we expect growth to slow down during the second half of the year, the annual volumes will without doubt exceed those of 2008.” Less rosy is the forecast for 2012. “Looking forward to 2012 we expect growth to drop off sharply, much as it has done in North America. This comes at a time when new capacity comes on stream. We caution that freight rates will remain under pressure unless a sizeable part of capacity is withdrawn from the market. Back to basic economics of supply and demand,” said Ben Hackett of Hackett Associates. He added: “We are becoming less and less optimistic about 2012.” This is bad news for South African exports. According to Statistics South Africa the manufacturing industry contributed negatively at -1.1% quarter-on-quarter, falling by 7% annually. Agriculture, forestry and fishing fell by 7.8% quarter on quarter. The only growth was in government sector spending.