In 2024, the container market surpassed growth expectations, with volumes increasing by 6.2% and demand for teu-miles rising by 21%, according to Sea-Intelligence. This surge was largely due to the Red Sea crisis, which forced carriers to reroute vessels around Africa.

Overall, global container volume increased by 10.7 million TEU year-over-year. While seven trade lanes recorded a decrease totaling 920,000 TEU, the remaining 42 lanes recorded an increase of 11.6 million TEU.

Among the seven regions Container Trade Statistics (CTS) divides the container market into, Asia-North America trade route reported the highest growth at 12%. This was followed by cargo to Latin America, Europe, and Oceania.

Conversely, three trade lanes accounted for 87% of the total decline in the container trade. The Europe to India and Middle East trade lane was responsible for 47.6% of this decrease. Back-haul freight to the Far East accounted for 24.8%, while shipments from India and the Middle East to Africa comprised 14.6%.

”It is clear that the two major deep-sea trades of Trans-Pacific and Asia-Europe have been very strong drivers of global container demand growth in 2024. Intra-Asia also exhibited strong growth, however the distance sailed in this trade is much shorter and hence impacts teu-miles considerably less. It also highlights how susceptible the global supply/demand balance will be to changes in North American and European demand in 2025,” said Sea-Intelligence.

Source: ShippingWatch