The world’s premier container ports chalked up a second successive year of muted volume growth during 2023, in a 12-month period ending with contrasting fortunes for the leading export and import hubs. Last year’s combined throughput tally hit 690.3m teu, up 0.8% from 685.2m teu on 2022’s elite port performance, edging ever closer to the 700m teu mark.
The subdued growth figure, however, was down on the previous year (1.7%), continuing the trend of the ‘tepid 20s’ post-Covid in a sobering reality for the sector.
Throughout 2023, the fragmentation of volume growth was striking. Yet one core theme remained from the previous year. Once again it was the Chinese majors and ports in the Middle East where the lead share of growth was concentrated.
China’s colossal export centres saw business continue to tick along, with trade activity energised by the full lifting of long-drawn-out pandemic border measures during the early stages of 2023.
In the Middle East, volume growth was reported across much of the region. But this was especially prevalent among the major oil-exporting nations, where a concerted effort to diversify economies continues to provide robust demand for containerised trade.
China’s exploits and Middle East gains helped offset significant setbacks in throughput at US terminals. The end of the pandemic freight boom and overstocked inventories led to sharp decreases at key gateways on the east, west and Gulf coasts.
European ports also finished 2023 worse off than when the year started, with the continent still gripped by inflationary pressures, high interest rates and the economic impact from the war in Ukraine.
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