Port of Yokohama half-year foreign container trade down 2 percent
The Port of Yokohama in Japan saw its container trade with foreign countries decline 2.0 percent in the first half of this year from a year earlier to 1,369,627 20-foot-equivalent units, the Journal of Commerce reported citing preliminary figures released by the Yokohama municipal government.
But the year-over-year pace of decline in container trade in the January-June period was slower than 6.3 percent in the same six-month period last year, when a catastrophic earthquake and tsunami hit the northeastern part of the country.
The Port of Yokohama is Japan’s second-largest container port after the Port of Tokyo. Yokohama released the cargo figures without any analysis.
Yokohama exported 728,931 TEUs of containers between January and June, down 0.9 percent from a year earlier, and imported 640,696 TEUs of containers during the same period, down 3.2 percent from a year earlier.
Yokohama handled 463,549 TEUs of containers in trade with China -- its biggest trading partner -- in the first half of this year, down 5.7 percent from a year earlier. Exports to China totaled 258,069 TEUs, down 7.0 percent, while imports from China amounted to 205,480 TEUs, down 4.0 percent.
In the same six-month period last year, Yokohama’s container trade with China, including both exports and imports, posted a year-on-year increase of 6.1 percent.
Yokohama handled 169,320 TEUs of containers in trade with the U.S. -- its second-biggest trading partner – between January and June this year, down 9.7 percent from a year earlier. Exports to the U.S. totaled 43,181 TEUs, down 14.0 percent, while imports from the U.S. amounted to 126,140 TEUs, down 8.1 percent.
The year-over-year pace of decline in container trade with the U.S. between January and June was slower than 15 percent a year earlier.
Yokohama became the first among Japan’s top five container ports to release cargo figures for the first half of this year. The three other container ports are the Port of Nagoya, the Port of Kobe and the Port of Osaka.
http://hamptonroads.com/
