On February 6th, we completed the data for January 2011 in our U.S. Customs trade data tool,
TradeIQ. Total shipments in January rose by 7.69% from December, and grew 17.62% over the previous year. Imports from Asia rebounded to show strong year-over-year totals as importers prepared for the lunar New Year.
Below is a table showing port regions of the world where shipments originated:
| Port Region |
Jan 2011
Shipments |
Percent Change
over Dec 2010 |
Percent Change
over Jan 2010 |
| Asia |
537,977 |
10.70% |
16.98% |
| Europe |
95,439 |
-3.99% |
24.45% |
| Central America (includes Mexico) |
43,806 |
0.98% |
9.98% |
| South America |
22,969 |
15.17% |
27.31% |
| Unknown |
8,572 |
10.98% |
9.77% |
| Australia, New Zealand and Oceania |
5,154 |
4.69% |
7.06% |
| Africa |
4,429 |
25.54% |
19.35% |
North America
|
2,019 |
-49.81% |
18.49% |
| Total |
720,365 |
7.69% |
17.62% |
As the New Year begins, there is a lot of hope in the container shipping industry that normalcy will return. However, the uncertainty in Egypt and industry shifts from the Great Recession will have an effect on the industry for years to come.
Over the next year, two issues will likely reign supreme:
- Importers choosing NVOs over VOCCs to book and handle their cargo
- The continued shift of Asian origin cargo to ports East of the Panama Canal
Below is the trend of the last thirteen months showing total TEU volume and shipments as seen in Zepol's monthly containerized import press releases:
Methodology:
Zepol's data is derived from Bills of Lading entered into the Automated Manifest System. This information represents the number of House manifests entered by importers of waterborne containerized goods. This is the earliest indicator for trade data available for the previous month’s import activity. The data excludes shipments from empty containers, excludes shipments labeled as freight remaining on board, and may contain other data anomalies.