THE latest global freight statistics, collected by the OECD`s International Transport Forum, highlight concerns over macroeconomic stagnation with total external trade by sea below pre-crisis levels both in the United States (-5 per cent) and the European Union (-4 per cent), based shipping volumes until September this year.
Airfreight volumes in the EU and US are expected to decline in the near-term and continuing falling, volumes now at only four per cent above pre-crisis levels in the EU area and one per cent in the United States. Exports by air from Europe have dropped and remained at their lowest pre-crisis level since June 2011.
But the statistics show that exports by sea to Asia (especially China) improved since June 2011. The latest data show that exports by sea from the United States and the EU-27 to Asia are now 17 per cent and 28 per cent above their pre-crisis levels respectively.
EU and US trade by air with Asia and China, however, decreased as growth rates for exports slowed. Imports from Asia by air have been falling since April both in the EU-27 and US.