JOC Staff | Mar 14, 2013 4:55PM EDT
Global port throughput increased only 4.8 percent in 2012, lower than 7.3 percent in 2011 and 14 percent in 2010, reflecting a worsening economic environment and decreases in international shipping and trade volume, according Shanghai International Shipping Institute’s Global Port Development Report 2012.
In particular, emerging economies, which have previously boosted global port throughput, lost steam and saw plummeting growth.
Year-over-year growth in global container throughput shrank by nearly 50 percent from the 2010 level to 4.0 percent, lower than the 10-year average and the lowest except those of the crisis-hit years.
The report predicted that global port throughput and container throughput will maintain modest growth of more than 5 percent in 2013, mainly driven by European ports return to stability.