The Asia-US container market posted 14.4 percent cargo growth in the first three-quarters of 2004, to 3.82 million 40-foot container loads (FEU). Nearly 57 percent of this volume was shipped from China alone in the first three-quarters of 2004.
The executive director Albert Pierce of Transpacific Stabilisation Agreement (TSA) grouping container shipping lines operating between Asia and USA said in a report that China's comparative advantage and high-volume production capability in textile and apparel manufacturing could by some estimates help capture as much as half of the total US market for textile and apparels once quotas are lifted, representing a surge in new container traffic.
The TSA member container lines are presently facing a slow down with utilisation falling by 80 to 85 percent in January, 70 percent in February due to long holidays in Asia. "We are now down to only a handful of ships waiting at anchor for a berth on the West Coast, but long shore hiring and training issues are not fully resolved and congestion problems are likely to resurface once cargo demand rebounds," said Albert Pierce.
He said that railroads restricted inter-modal traffic to Memphis and Dallas during January due to system wide congestion and recent storms have slowed routes from Southern California to Las Vegas, hence a lot of freight still has to work its way through a clogged system.
The shipping lines are bracing themselves for when cargo demand rebounds as early as mid or late February-especially given the elimination of quotas and an expected migration of related production of Asia.