A study conducted by data providers Sea Intelligence found an interesting trend in the global container industry.
While demand from most areas around the world normalised back to post-pandemic levels, the Indian Ocean is witnessing a relatively active market. The study shows that shipping companies are sending more ships to the region compared to the volumes before the year 2020.
“It could therefore be said that the highest growth seen for the high-level regions defined by CTS [Container Trade Statistics] are for regions bordering the Indian Ocean,” says Sea Intelligence.
The region includes various nations in the Middle East and on the east coast of Africa, as well as nations like India, Thailand, Australia, Singapore, Indonesia, and Bangladesh.
Analysts claim that uncertainty and slow growth in China after the pandemic are pushing businesses to relocate their manufacturing out of China and closer to the Western Hemisphere.
They also found that export growth, in particular, has been substantially greater in India, the Middle East, and African nations, notably Tanzania, Kenya, and Mozambique. Compared to August 2019, exports from the Middle East and India region had a growth of about 25% in August of this year. Growth in the African countries was about 20% during the same period.
”The very high export rates might well be the beginning of a long-term systemic trend. The slow and gradual shift associated with China+1 strategies, to some degree, would favour shifts to the Indian Ocean Rim,” says the study.
