Record Movement in Asia-US Containershipping
A recovery in the U.S. economy and greater consumer spending by the middle class has stimulated the movement of shipping containers from Asia to the U.S. returned to near-historic levels in 2014, says a report Nikkei Asian Review.
Quoting data from Zepol, a U.S. company that tracks trade data, the report says that in terms of 20-foot equivalent containers (TEUs), U.S. sea trade imports from Asia rose 6.8% from the 2013 level, to reach 14.23 million TEUs in 2014.
Shipments from Asia to the U.S. which was plunged in 2008 and 2009 after fallout from the global financial crisis began rebounding in 2013. The traffic in containers improved further as consumer demand increased for a range of goods in 2014
Container imports from China, the leading exporter accounting for 60% of all goods shipped to the U.S., rose 6.9% in 2014, and shipments from second-ranking South Korea grew 3.2%.
Taiwan, which ranked fourth, shipped 11.7% more TEUs, and Singapore boosted its shipments by 17.4% to jump past Japan, where shipments rose 3.8% to 610,000 TEUs.
