Containerized imports to northern Europe increased 7.7 percent year on year to 95,000 TEU in June and 10.5 percent in July, Shippingazette reports citing London's Lloyd's List.
Full-year 2011 growth is expected to increase 12.7 per cent for inbound traffic and an 8.7 per cent per cent rise in outbound, said a study by Hackett Associates and the Bremen Institute of Shipping Economics and Logistics.
"But for 2012, we project this level of growth to be cut in half, with the weaker trade volumes becoming apparent this year," said the report's co-author, Ben Hackett.
Despite strong growth at Le Havre, Antwerp, Zeebrugge, Rotterdam, Bremerhaven and Hamburg, the forecasters remain gloomy, reported London's International Freighting Weekly, adding that their study expects a decline growth to begin at the end of October.
Total inbound volumes are projected to exceed 17 million TEU in 2011, with outbound traffic at nearly the same figure, but "unfortunately, the individual trade routes are not in balance", said the Global Port Tracker authors. Northern Europe's top container ports face weakening box volumes for the rest of the year, and into 2012, they said.
Full-year 2011 growth is expected to increase 12.7 per cent for inbound traffic and an 8.7 per cent per cent rise in outbound, said a study by Hackett Associates and the Bremen Institute of Shipping Economics and Logistics.
"But for 2012, we project this level of growth to be cut in half, with the weaker trade volumes becoming apparent this year," said the report's co-author, Ben Hackett.
Despite strong growth at Le Havre, Antwerp, Zeebrugge, Rotterdam, Bremerhaven and Hamburg, the forecasters remain gloomy, reported London's International Freighting Weekly, adding that their study expects a decline growth to begin at the end of October.
Total inbound volumes are projected to exceed 17 million TEU in 2011, with outbound traffic at nearly the same figure, but "unfortunately, the individual trade routes are not in balance", said the Global Port Tracker authors. Northern Europe's top container ports face weakening box volumes for the rest of the year, and into 2012, they said.