Hong Kong shippers see a bleak global container shipping market in the last few months of 2011, as rates fell about 50 percent in the third quarter amid sluggish Western demand and mounting worries of a global economic crisis.
Sunny Ho, executive director of Hong Kong Shippers Council, a group of major exporters in the territory, said shipping rates are expected to drop further in the fourth quarter due to the lack of any indication of a U.S. and European economic recovery.
The emerging markets are not growing fast enough to make up for the slack in demand of the traditional Western markets, Ho added.
The Shanghai Containerized Freight Index for European lanes dove 56 percent to an average of $807.86 per TEU in the third quarter, from $1,842.67 the same period last year, Reuters reported.
Average container shipping rate from Shanghai to U.S. West Coast fell 40 percent year-on-year to $1,639.93 during the same period, it added, quoting BOCOM International, which monitors the indexes compiled by the Shanghai Shipping Exchange.
Ho said the depressed industry situation would pull down rates further and push more ships in the red. More cargo vessels would be on idling mode this month, normally a peak period due to the coming Christmas season, and would not be able to impose peak-season surcharges, he predicted.
Photo by HerryLawford
