Hard times have fallen on the shipping routes between China and Western Europe, and nowhere is this trend more obvious than on the docks in Shenzhen, the second-busiest Chinese port after Shanghai. According to acclaimed shipping trade magazine Lloyd's List the reason for the hefty decline in activity is a slowdown in China's exports. Last year Maersk Line shifted a large part of its fleet away from stagnating Atlantic and Pacific routes and onto the more lucrative runs between Asia and Europe, but now these routes are apparently also gearing down.

"The rate development in the first half year has been less than anticipated. The market simply hasn't grown as much as we – and a lot of other people – expected," Robert Kledal, head of route planning at Maersk Line, told Danish media recently. "There're still a lot of elements of uncertainty in play, but we have to admit that so far we've been witnessing a downward turn in business this year, and it'll probably continue into at least the first six months of 2009."

Full story in Danish

Published on this site: Jul. 16, 2008
Source:erhvervsbladet.dk