European full-year imports expected to shrink, but exports to grow

NORTH European container imports are projected to shrink 0.6 per cent to 16.4 million TEU in 2012 because of EU debt situation, but exports are expected to rise 3.9 per cent to 17.54 million TEU, says the North Europe Global Port Tracker.

Total European imports are projected to contract two per cent to 21.19 million TEU, said the report, which is conducted by Hackett Associates and Bremen's Institute of Shipping Economics and Logistics. For individual regions, imports will fall 0.4 per cent in North Europe, 4.5 per cent in the Mediterranean and Black Sea.

Conversely, total exports are estimated to grow 3.3 per cent to 16.69 million TEU. The report forecasts that there will be an increase of 4.5 per cent in North Europe and a growth of 1.4 per cent in the Mediterranean and Black Sea region.

"For the first time in five years the balance between exports and imports in the north range ports has been broken, with imports failing to match exports," the report said.

It expects inbound volumes at the six North European ports, including Le Havre, Antwerp, Zeebrugge, Rotterdam, Bremen/Bremerhaven and Hamburg, to drop 0.6 per cent to 16.4 million TEU in 2012, but outbound volumes to increase 3.9 per cent to 17.54 million TEU.

The report anticipates the total volume for the year will reach the level of 39.97 million TEU, up 0.2 per cent year on year. In the coming six months, it forecasts a four per cent decrease in outbound laden containers, compared with a 0.1 per cent growth in the same period of the previous year. But two of the four upcoming quarters will experience growth for both inbound and outbound containers.