According to the Container Trade Statistics (CTS), the global container volumes decreased by 3.9% over the past year (down to 173.7 million TEUs), but remain 2% higher than the level of the “pre-corona crisis” 2019.
The European market declined most dynamically in 2022. Over the year, imports to Europe amounted to 32.4 million TEUs, which is 7% less than in 2021 and 4% less than in 2019. At the same time, the gap from the levels of the end of 2021 reached 12% by the last quarter.
European exports in 2022 amounted to 29.1 million TEUs, 7% down when compared to 2021.
The dynamics of the Asian container market is noticeably better than in the key western markets: imports and exports in this geographical market segment were declining from June to September, but already in the last quarter, a marked increase began due to the gradual lifting of quarantine restrictions in China. In general, at the end of the year, export traffic amounted to 102 million TEUs (3% drop if compared to 2021), import traffic – 67 million TEUs (3% drop).