China-U.S. container trade dwarfs others

   A new report from the Department of Transportation’s Bureau of Transportation Statistics shows that U.S. containerized trade with top partner China is more than four times that of its trade with Japan, the second largest partner.
   The report, The Changing Tide of U.S.-International Container Trade, said containerized trade with China spiked by 125 percent between 2003 and 2010, to $270.3 billion. In that period, trade with India grew by the biggest percentage, 154 percent, to $18.6 billion.
   Each of the United States’ top 10 trading partners saw trade grow by at least 16 percent over the 2003-2010 period, except for Japan. Trade with Japan grew 7 percent, to $63.8 billion, though Japan remained the United States’ second biggest containerized trade partner.
   Trade with Germany, the third biggest partner, grew by 54 percent from 2003 to 2010, to $36.3 billion.
   The report, which also catalogs vessel calls and capacity deployed to U.S. ports, is available through the BTS Maritime Program Website.