FEFC reports strong Asia/Europe volumes

FEFC reports strong Asia/Europe volumes The Far Eastern Freight Conference, whose member lines control more than two-thirds of the available Asia/Europe vessel capacity, has reported impressive volume growth in both directions of the trade during the first quarter.
   In the dominant westbound leg, volumes rose 20.7 percent to 2.12 million TEUs, with the Far East to North Europe up 19 percent to 1.4 million TEUs and Asia to Mediterranean rising 24.2 percent to 724,890 TEUs.
   Eastbound, the FEFC reported a 9.6 percent overall rise to 815,173 TEUs. On a regional basis, volume from North Europe to Asia improved 7 percent to 661,569 TEUs with Mediterranean to Asia cargoes increasing 22.2 percent to 153,604 TEUs.
   The FEFC cautioned that the eastbound figures do not include volumes transported by Mediterranean Shipping Co., which joined the conference last September, as the Geneva-based carrier could not provide figures for the 2006 first quarter.