In June, Asia and the Mediterranean between the container trade for the third consecutive month of year-on-year growth, demand growth far more than the Asia-Northern Europe route.
The latest data from the Container Trade Statistics (CTS) showed particularly strong growth in freight volumes for Asia-East Mediterranean trade, up 38.5 percent year-on-year in April and 38 percent year-on-year in May. Freight traffic from Asia to the Western Mediterranean rose 21.7 percent in April and 4 percent in May. Freight volumes from Asia to the East Mediterranean and the Black Sea rose 39 percent year-on-year to 297000 TEUs in June, while those from Asia to the West Mediterranean rose 21 percent to 279908 TEUs.
While the Asia-Mediterranean volume comparison was affected by last year's weak demand, the volume of trade routes in the second quarter has exceeded the volume of container routes in the same period before the 2019 pandemic. In contrast, Asia-Northern Europe's freight volume rose only 3.1 percent in the month to 915,284 TEUs.
European imports have "clearly rebounded" after a year of depression, according to an analysis of data Maritime by Sea-Intelligence ". Asian imports to northern Europe and the Mediterranean rose 12 percent in June, the fourth consecutive month of growth on the continent.
Freight forwarders believe that the Mediterranean coastal country's holiday season recovery has stimulated retail sales, and after the February Turkish-Syrian border earthquake, Turkey's construction material imports increased.
From April to June, Western Mediterranean shippers imported 812000 TEUs from Asia, up nearly 6 percent from the same period in 2019, while Asia-Eastern Mediterranean/Black Sea container volumes were 901000 TEUs, up 7.1 percent. On the other hand, freight traffic on the Asia-Northern Europe route fell 3.7 percent in the second quarter to 2.6 million TEUs.
the average spot rate from Asia to the Mediterranean was $2426 per FEU this week, according to rates benchmarking platform Xeneta. The short-term price for the longer Asia-Northern Europe route was $1,695 per FEU, up nearly 40 percent from July 31, but still 82 percent lower than a year earlier.
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