Abstract
Japan continued to suffer the full effects of the global economic downturn in
the last quarter with its
maritime sector bearing the brunt of the decline
in the country' s trade volumes. Japan' s major container
lines continue to
be severely affected as external demand for manufactured goods remains
weak.
Kawasaki Kisen Kaisha Ltd. (K-Line) was among several carriers in Q2
to reveal plans to reduce its
box fleet with company president, Hiroyuki
Maekawa, describing the situation as ' extremely challenging' .
The effect
on domestic shipbuilders has been no less severe, with newbuild orders placed
with Japanese
yards falling for a seventh consecutive month in April and
down 74% year-on-year (y-o-y).
BMI expects little improvement in current
conditions over the year as a whole, and in 2009 we predict
that tonnage
throughput at the Port of Nagoya will decline by 20.09% to 174.5mn tonnes with
container
volumes passing through the port falling by a forecast 25.5% to
2.165mn TEUs. We expect the recovery
in Japan' s shipping sector to begin
in 2010 with throughput at the nation' s ports forecast to record positive
growth.
Throughput trends at Japan' s ports mirror the trade situation in
the country as a whole, with total trade
forecast to suffer a severe
contraction of 23.8% in 2009. BMI forecasts a gradual recovery to begin in
2010 with total trade expected to increase by 4.22% over the 2010-2013
period.
As well as an in-depth analysis of Japan' s shipping sector, BMI' s
Q309 Japan 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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