According to preliminary data from CTS, the global container market volume amounted to 173.8 million TEUs for 2023. The demand for maritime container transportation last year was 0.3% higher than a year earlier, following a decline of more than 4% in 2022.
Following an increase in the first half of 2023, the demand for container shipping started to decline again from mid-summer, but in December there was a noticeable upturn in volumes in all geographical segments except Asian imports.
The turnover of the port of Shanghai in January indicates that the boom that started in December has continued into early 2024. In the first month of the year, the world's largest container port transshipped over 4.5 million TEUs, 18% more than in January last year and 15% more than the average of the previous 5 years.