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Growth in Asia-US Gulf trade prompts calls for extra services
来源： 编辑：编辑部 发布：2018/02/26 08:54:13
SHIPPERS want more services from the US Gulf to accommodate rising exports of resin to Asia, particularly now US synthetic resins shipments are expected to increase and ships are running near capacity.
Carriers are willing but cautious. They note that resins are a backhaul commodity that provides container lines with lower rates than most import containers. Export commodities such as resins also tend to be heavier than imports, which means fewer containers can be stowed aboard an outbound vessel, reported IHS Media.
Shippers also have questioned the availability of empty containers for resin exports. Operators of the Gulf's existing Asian container services note that they also have multiple Gulf services. Carriers say these services can be used to reposition empty boxes to the Gulf - if they can generate enough revenue for a profitable round trip.
"We have to do the math, and the math has to make sense," Cosco Container Lines America COO Howard Finkel said at the Port of Houston symposium on resin exports.
Shippers and ports say rising import volumes from Asia support demand for more or higher capacity Gulf services. The Gulf coast's share of containerised imports from Asia rose to 6.6 per cent last year from 5.87 per cent in 2016.
Houston, which handles two-thirds of the Gulf's container volume, had a 53-to-47 ratio of loaded import TEU to loaded exports last year. This ratio reflected a 20 per cent year-on-year increase in Houston's total imports in 2017.
Imports were up 17.4 per cent last year at the Port of Mobile, mainly due to two new Asian calls that began in mid-2016. Mobile's Asian imports are expected to rise further with Wal-Mart's opening of a 2.6 million square foot distribution centre near the port this year.
Except for c's PEX-3 eastbound round-the-world service, and for trans-Atlantic services that use 6,500-TEU ships that regularly call at Gulf ports tend to be smaller, although Houston last year handled nearly 20 "extra loaders" with capacities of up to 8,500 TEU.
Imports to Gulf ports from North Asia in 2017 rose 27.5 per cent year over year, to 499,631 TEU, according to PIERS data. Imports from north Europe to the Gulf rose 14.3 per cent to 263,744 TEU, and increased by 24.4 per cent from the Indian subcontinent to 74,666 TEU.
The biggest percentage increases were recorded in Southeast Asia, up 49 per cent to 79,826 TEU; and the Middle East, up 43.8 percent to 31,637 TEU.
Gulf exports to northeast Asia rose 20.5 per cent year on year in the first 11 months of the year to 201,458 TEU, an increase of 34,225 TEU, making the trade the largest in terms of export volumes. Exports to Southeast Asia surged 33.9 per cent to 61,314 TEU. Import-export volume in most other trades, including South and Central America, was relatively flat.
Carriers are willing but cautious. They note that resins are a backhaul commodity that provides container lines with lower rates than most import containers. Export commodities such as resins also tend to be heavier than imports, which means fewer containers can be stowed aboard an outbound vessel, reported IHS Media.
Shippers also have questioned the availability of empty containers for resin exports. Operators of the Gulf's existing Asian container services note that they also have multiple Gulf services. Carriers say these services can be used to reposition empty boxes to the Gulf - if they can generate enough revenue for a profitable round trip.
"We have to do the math, and the math has to make sense," Cosco Container Lines America COO Howard Finkel said at the Port of Houston symposium on resin exports.
Shippers and ports say rising import volumes from Asia support demand for more or higher capacity Gulf services. The Gulf coast's share of containerised imports from Asia rose to 6.6 per cent last year from 5.87 per cent in 2016.
Houston, which handles two-thirds of the Gulf's container volume, had a 53-to-47 ratio of loaded import TEU to loaded exports last year. This ratio reflected a 20 per cent year-on-year increase in Houston's total imports in 2017.
Imports were up 17.4 per cent last year at the Port of Mobile, mainly due to two new Asian calls that began in mid-2016. Mobile's Asian imports are expected to rise further with Wal-Mart's opening of a 2.6 million square foot distribution centre near the port this year.
Except for c's PEX-3 eastbound round-the-world service, and for trans-Atlantic services that use 6,500-TEU ships that regularly call at Gulf ports tend to be smaller, although Houston last year handled nearly 20 "extra loaders" with capacities of up to 8,500 TEU.
Imports to Gulf ports from North Asia in 2017 rose 27.5 per cent year over year, to 499,631 TEU, according to PIERS data. Imports from north Europe to the Gulf rose 14.3 per cent to 263,744 TEU, and increased by 24.4 per cent from the Indian subcontinent to 74,666 TEU.
The biggest percentage increases were recorded in Southeast Asia, up 49 per cent to 79,826 TEU; and the Middle East, up 43.8 percent to 31,637 TEU.
Gulf exports to northeast Asia rose 20.5 per cent year on year in the first 11 months of the year to 201,458 TEU, an increase of 34,225 TEU, making the trade the largest in terms of export volumes. Exports to Southeast Asia surged 33.9 per cent to 61,314 TEU. Import-export volume in most other trades, including South and Central America, was relatively flat.