Global growth in world container carrying capacity in 2007 is estimated at 13.4 per cent, 2.4 per cent higher than the estimated growth in demand, says a UN agency.
India's Hindu daily newspaper report cited the United Nations Commission for Trade and Development (Unctad) which calculated figures from order books for containerships in September 2007 that stood at 6.2 million TEU, representing 60 per cent of the existing fleet.
In 2006, containership fleet growth surpassed that of the container trade itself for the first time since 2001. With an increase in the fleet of 1.4 million TEU, capacity rose 13. 5 per cent in 2006 (a 2.5 per cent increase), which was more than the growth of the overall trade that only increased 11 per cent.
In 2006, said Unctad, throughput of the container handling ports increased by 13.4 per cent to reach 440 million TEU. The developing countries handled 65 per cent of the total, up from 62.1 per cent in 2005, said the Unctad report.
Asia exports grew 18 per cent and imports by 11 per cent, according to the Unctad Review, whose report also said global terminal operators in Asia handled 50 per cent of the world's container volume.
As 2007 began, the world's merchant fleet totalled more than one billion tonnes for the first time to reach 1.04 billion after growing 8.6 per cent, according to Unctad's Maritime Transport 2007 report, which examined sea trades, comparing regions and countries.
Developed countries controlled 65.9 per cent of the world tonnage, with developing countries and economies in transition accounting for 31.2 per cent and 2.9 per cent respectively, the Unctad report noted.
The operational productivity of the world fleet decreased slightly during 2006, reaching 7.1 tonnes carried per dead weight tonne from 7.4 tonnes in 2005 and 29.4 thousand tonne miles per tonne (30.3). This reflects faster rate of fleet expansion relative to cargo carried. The world surplus tonnage in 2006 increased to 10.1 million tonnes or one per cent of the world merchant fleet. The corresponding figures for 2005 were 7.1 million tons and 0.7 per cent respectively, said the report.
World rail freight coverage also expanded in 2006, led by growth in China and India at 11 per cent and 8 per cent respectively.
The growing world economy, led by mounting demand in Asia, led to an increase in sea-borne international trade to 7.4 billion tonnes in 2006 - up 4.3 per cent. According to the latest data available for 2005, global freight costs represented 5.9 per cent of the value of world imports, a jump from 5.1 per cent in 2004. The cost of transport came to 7.7 per cent of import value for developing nations, and to 7.6 per cent for countries with economies in transition. Developing countries and the economies in transition continued to bear the brunt of high transport costs.
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