by Lloyd's List
GROWTH in global container volumes showed no sign of slowing down in April, maintaining the steady upward trend in traffic seen in early 2025.
Total traffic in the latest reporting month published by Container Trades Statistics of 15.6m teu represented a 5.8% increase on April 2024, while revised figures for March of 16.3m teu marked the busiest month for the industry on record.
Initial forecasts for the liner industry in 2025 was for volumes to flatline against last year, however, official box numbers recorded thus far suggest preliminary projections to be far too conservative.
While there were indications that global trade has started to succumb to US tariff policy, key markets continue to show resilience, particularly Asian exports and imports into Europe.
The most notable drop in volumes understandably came from North America, where tariff uncertainty took its toll.
CTS data shows that North American imports fell 4.7% in April on last year, while were down 11.5% on March’s total.
“The most significant reductions are from China, where cargoes are registering 25% less than the same month last year from the US,” said CTS chief executive Nigel Pusey.
On the headhaul transpacific trade, monthly volumes fell for the first time this year in April and by some margin, falling 10.4%. Year-to-date volumes do though remain above 2024 levels, up 3.8%.
Pusey said that all export regions showed at least some weakness in April, however, Asian exports, particularly from Southeast Asia, continue to show resilience with year-to-date box numbers through end of April tracking 7.8% on 2024 levels.
“Volumes may have softened in the US from Asia; however, volumes to other regions from that area are looking very strong,” he said.
“The three regions of the Indian subcontinent and Middle East, South and Central America and Sub-Saharan Africa registered, respectively, 23%, 24% and 29% increases when compared with April 2024, and 15%, 16% and 17% on a year-to-date basis for cargoes originating from Asia.”
On the Asia-Europe trade, volume growth in April also continued in similar vein to the first quarter, climbing by a further 8.4% on year. Year-to-date, carried volumes on the trunk trade are up 9%.
Similar trend to 2024 despite uncertainties
“The first four months of 2025 have seen some fascinating movements in cargoes, and perhaps the most significant, beyond the sharp drop in cargo falls in China and the US, are to areas such as Indian subcontinent, South America, and Sub-Saharan Africa,” said Pusey.
This, he said, may suggest a strategy of targeting other markets to insure against the uncertainties surrounding the US.
“The data indicates above-average increases in these areas for the past 18 months. Regardless of individual market movements, the global market performance for the first four months (5.1% growth over the same period the previous year) continues at similar levels of growth seen in 2024, which is well above the original expectations for 2025.”
