Abstract
The last quarter saw a welcome surge of activity at a handful of Australia' s
key export terminals as coal
exports increased as a result of rising
Chinese demand. Overall, however, both container and tonnage
throughput
volumes remained weak, falling by 3% and 11% year-on-year (y-o-y),
respectively, in Q109.
A continuation in weak global demand for key
Australian exports such as coal and iron ore is expected to
result in low
throughput over the year as a whole, while reduced domestic consumption will
continue to
weigh down movement of containerised cargo at the country' s
ports. BMI predicts that in 2009 tonnage
throughput at the Port of Sydney
will decline by 7.3% y-o-y to 27.05mn tonnes with container volumes
passing through the port falling by a forecast 8.6% to 1.63mn TEUs. We expect
the recovery in
Australia' s shipping sector to begin in 2010 with
throughput at the nation' s ports forecast to record
positive growth.
The throughput trend at Australia' s ports mirrors the trade situation in the
country as a whole, with total
trade expected to decline by 4.25% in 2009.
BMI forecasts that a recovery will begin in 2010, with total
trade
expected to increase by 1.97% y-o-y on average over the 2010-2013 period.
As well as an in-depth analysis of Australia' s shipping sector, BMI ' s Q309
Australia Shipping Report
offers a global overview of the dry bulk, liquid
bulk and container sectors, and overviews of the 11 largest
shipping lines
and their strategies over the quarter to weather the downturn in trade
volumes.
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