The strong euro and growth in European economies, particularly Germany, are expected to drive "healthier container growth in the Asia-to-Europe trade this year than on Asia-US routes, according to Evergreen Marine Corp chairman Arnold Wang.
"We expect in 2008, European market to continue growing, especially with the high euro and growth in the German economy," he told Reuters.
In line with last week's forecast from Goldman Sachs that the world's leading economic power is likely to tip into recession this year, the chairman of Taiwan's largest container shipping line predicts that the container trade between Asia and the US will slow down in 2008.
"Even if the economy in America has a softer landing, we still expect to see growth, maybe two per cent from about 10 per cent in 2007," said Mr Wang.
Contrary to his predictions, members of the Transpacific Stabilisation Agreement (TSA) see similar or slightly higher growth for 2008 on Asia-US routes compared to last year.
"That's slower than the 9.6 per cent growth posted for 2006 [to 6.5 million 40-foot containers], but it nonetheless reflects considerable resilience among US consumers, despite uncertainty over subprime mortgages, home values, tightening credit, high gas prices and a weaker dollar," said a statement on TSA's website.
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