The Drewry Container Port Throughput Indices are a series of volume growth/decline indices based on monthly throughput data for a sample of over 220 ports worldwide, representing over 75% of global volumes. The base point for the indices is January 2012 = 100.
Drewry’s global container port throughput index fell to 108 points in February 2020, 15.6% down month on month and 4.4% down year on year. The index plunged 20 points, which is the largest fall in a single month since the launch of the Drewry Container Port Throughput Index in January 2012.
Although volumes in February have usually been low because of the Chinese New Year, this year the steepness of the fall can be attributed to the coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreak which spread in China in January 2020, and by February 2020 it had started impacting port throughputs. The virus outbreak added to the woes of shipping lines which were already struggling with weaker markets and higher costs because of the new IMO regulations.
All regions, with the exception of Africa, witnessed a monthly drop in the February 2020 throughput index. China, the largest region in the index, crashed 45 points in a single month – the largest ever monthly fall. The drop to 91 points in February 2020 was a decline of 32.9% on a monthly basis and 16.4% annually. These throughput figures came as no surprise since we had expected a sharp decline because of the virus outbreak, and we project on-going declines in the coming months.
Source: Sea News