INDUSTRY PONDERS RECORD TRANSPACIFIC VOLUMES

INDUSTRY PONDERS RECORD TRANSPACIFIC VOLUMES    The eastbound transpacific container traffic increased by an unexpected 20 percent in 2002, to about 8.5 million TEUs, leading many in the industry to readjust their forecasts for volume growth for the 2003 calendar year.
   The research department of MOL said in an analysis that December 2002 cargo volumes increased by 38 percent eastbound, to 771,000 TEUs, while they were up 17 percent westbound, to 307,000 TEUs.
   Forecasting organizations had predicted only a single-digit percentage growth in eastbound Pacific volumes for 2002.
   MOL said that the December eastbound traffic growth was “the biggest figure among the whole remarkable year.”
   By contrast, in calendar 2001, eastbound traffic volume had increased by less than 2 percent.
   The statistics for 2002 show a continuing, wide imbalance between westbound and eastbound container cargo volumes, as well as a shift of volumes to the East Coast of the United States.
   An analysis of OOCL (USA) Inc. noted that the East Coast easbound traffic in December 2002 was nearly twice as large as it had been a year earlier.
   While traffic growth to the U.S. West Coast rose by 10 percent in the fourth quarter, volumes to the East Coast soared by 68 percent. The diversion of traffic was partly caused by the U.S. West Coast port labor disruptions of last fall, but OOCL (USA) noted that East Coast traffic also increased faster than West Coast traffic in the first and third quarters of last year.
   Traditionally, U.S. East Coast ports have handled about 20 percent of the Asia/U.S. eastbound market, but the proportion has started to increase.
   Several carriers — including Hanjin Shipping, Yang Ming, COSCO Container Lines, Zim Israel Navigation Co. and Evergreen — have either launched or announced the launch of new Asia/U.S. East Coast all-water services since the beginning of the year.