Woking: Volatility in container shipping is here to stay, argues one of the sector’s leading analysts in today’s Maritime CEO interview. Rod Riseborough is the head of UK-based Container Trades Statistics (CTS), which provides data on most container lanes.
In 2001, after a long period with Safmarine, Riseborough was appointed ceo of the Far Eastern Freight Conference (FEFC), which he ran until the EU dissolved it in 2008.
CTS is what Riseborough did next. Essentially, CTS takes data from the lines, processes it and then sends it back to the lines. CTS covers most areas of the globe with the exception of intra-Asia trades. CTS has a price index, whereby 2008 rates are the base 100 points.
“There is a disconnect at the moment between growth in capacity meeting growth in cargo,” Riseborough says, adding, “There’s a need for more economy in the system.”
However, the container analyst is not all doom and gloom, far from it, in fact. “Some trades are performing better,” he notes.
The Asia-Europe trade shows there is “the possibility for some sort of stability”, he reckons. Asia – North Europe and Asia – West Mediterranean are both “stable”, he says, but Asia – East Mediterranean is not good. The transpacific is growing, he says, with a very good peak season, while translatlantic is stable and north – south trades are on the up. [17/10/13]
