- Container Trade Expands in January 2025 Despite Market Uncertainties.
- Utilisation Trends Reveal Mixed Signals in Global Container Shipping.
- Asia-Europe Utilisation Drops Early, While Asia-North America Holds Firm.
Global container volumes maintained their growth path in January 2025 at 15.4 million TEU, a 5.8% year-on-year (Y/Y) rise, based on Container Trade Statistics (CTS) data. The growth indicates continued demand on major trade lanes, which demonstrates the strength of global shipping despite recent disruptions, reports Sea Intelligence.
TEU*Miles Growth Demonstrates Real Container Demand
TEU*Miles, adjusted for nautical distances travelled, posted a robust 8.1% Y/Y in January. In contrast to the unprecedented growth rates of more than 20% across 2024 that were pushed primarily by the rerouting of container services around Africa due to the Red Sea conflict, the January 2025 numbers are a better comparison. As round-Africa routing was already available a year ago, the 8.1% rise is actual, not distorted distance-adjusted container demand.
Care Over Chinese New Year Effect
The variable timing of Chinese New Year (CNY) always brings a degree of uncertainty to January container shipping statistics. Because CNY interferes with trade flows, year-on-year comparisons have to be taken with care because seasonal slackness and stock adjustment can cause temporary fluctuations in container volumes.
Market Strength Assessed Through Utilisation Trends
Beyond raw container volumes, utilisation rates provide further insight into market conditions. Utilisation adjusts for fluctuations in seasonal demand, offering a clearer picture of how effectively vessel capacity is being used.
On the Asia-Europe trade lane, utilisation dropped earlier than usual in January, a trend that typically only begins after CNY. This early decline likely contributed to the early drop in spot rates on this route. In Asia-North America, there was a rise in utilisation levels in January, which allowed for spot rates to be sustained longer than they could be in the Asia-Europe trade lane. On the North America-Europe trade route, however, utilisation plunged drastically, but corresponding major drops in spot rates—yet, at least, still have not materialized.
Containership market outlook
The sustained strength in container demand, both terms of volume and TEU*Miles growth, shows a healthy beginning to 2025 for global shipping. Nevertheless, utilisation trends point to various trade lanes facing different levels of capacity stress, impacting spot rates differently. As market conditions change, movements in utilisation and pricing will continue to be important pointers of trends in global container shipping to come.
Did you subscribe to our daily Newsletter?
It’s Free Click here to Subscribe!
Source: Sea Intelligence
