Inbound slump

The accumulated growth rate for US inbound containers has almost been halved from 5.1 per cent in 2018 to 2.6 per cent in August of 2019, according to figures from BIMCO. Towards the end of 2018, US retailers frontloaded consumer goods ahead of the planned tariff hike in January 2019. While another US tariff hike of 10 per cent on Chinese goods worth US$160 billion is planned for 15 December, BIMCO does not expect the same frontloading, due to heightened uncertainty about the rumoured trade deal. The China Containerised Freight Index, a freight rate index that tracks 10 Chinese ports, is down by 6 per cent from January to October to an index level of 795 on 1 October 2019. The containership fleet is expected to grow 3.6 per cent for the full year of 2019, however the fundamental balance is set to deteriorate into 2020.