China/India cargo forecast to grow 20% in 2011

China/India cargo forecast to grow 20% in 2011    Cargo trade between China and India could grow 20 percent this year, according to South China-based Maersk Line executive Soren Karas.
   The figure was reported in a Bloomberg report Monday on growing trade between the world's two most populous nations. The report pointed to growing transportation links offered by air carriers, integrators and shipping lines in recent months.
   Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao and India Prime Minister Manmohan Singh met in December to discuss strengthened business ties between the two countries, though the two leaders scarcely discussed political tension arising from their long, disputed border in northeast India, as well as China's disapproval of India providing refuge to the Dalai Lama.
   Singh hosted a string of the world's most powerful leaders in late 2010 — including U.S. President Barack Obama, Russian President Dmitri Medvedev, and French President Nicolas Sarkozy — a major sign that the world's top economies see India as crucial in the coming decade.
   'We need to increase the size of (the ships serving China/India) in future as we expect growth in this market,' Karas told Bloomberg, in reference to a service it offers connecting Shanghai and Chennai (the four-ship CHX, which uses ships between 4,200 TEUs and 2,800 TEUs, according to American Shipper affiliate ComPair Data. 'It is an exciting market that has great potential.'
   According to ComPair Data, at the start of 2011, there were 212,097 TEUs of weekly allocated capacity operated by liner carriers between Asia and the Indian Subcontinent/Middle East region, an increase of 12.2 percent from January 2010. However, the liner industry has stripped out 28.8 percent of that capacity since the New Year to manage capacity during the winter slack season.
   And that capacity, of course, covers a wider swath than just China-India trade, but those two nations are clearly driving volume between the regions.
   American Shipper reported on the potential of growing trade between China and India in 2008.