The global container shipping industry faces a tough recovery in 2010 after the decline in global trade volumes this year, according to a forecast by Business Monitor International (BMI), the London-based global industry research and analysis firm. To gauge the magnitude of the recovery that lies ahead for the container sector, BMI uses its global port container throughput indicators for 2009. Since final figures for the year have yet to be released, BMI makes its assumptions using its forecasts, which were reviewed after the first six months of 2009 with H1 2009 data being added to its forecasting matrix. "Using the UAE port of Jebel Ali, the region's busiest container port and a transhipment hub for other Middle East countries, as a bellwether, BMI notes that the port is one of the few expected to post throughput growth in 2009, with 6.6 per cent growth forecast. It should be noted, however, that in 2009, despite positive growth, container throughput at Jebel Ali will have slowed yoy, as the port posted 25 per cent and 21.2 per cent growth for 2007 and 2008 respectively," it said. Asia's container throughput has felt the knock-on effect of many major consumer markets going into recession at the end of 2008 and in 2009. Factory output dropped as orders from consumer markets in Europe and the US dried up. The port of Singapore boasts the largest container throughput and is a major transhipment hub for Asian states shipping to Europe and the US.
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