Surge is not 're-stocking' Ceva says - it's genuine recovery

CEVA's chief operating officer Bruno Sidler says the rise in demand for shipping is not inventory re-stocking as often claimed by carriers, but a genuine recovery in consumer spending, reports London's International Freighting Weekly (IFW).

"A lot of people were saying the surge in demand was just people filling up their depleted stock, but that's not true anymore. We really see genuine demand, especially in the hi-tech sector," said Mr Sidler.

"This is not just stock that is going in warehouses, these are programmes where we ship directly to the customer - this is stuff that is sold. It really seems that there is definitely something starting to happen, maybe not a full-steam recovery, but there is something there," he said.

Mr Sidler said that current ocean capacity was still tight and lines were using uncertainties about what is fuelling the current volume growth to avoid bringing laid up ship back to service to reduce capacity and enhance rates.

Early in the year, Maersk Line COO Morten Engelstoft said volume growth would fall after the first two months of 2010 because the surge was simply restocking and that lines needed to be slow about bringing back tonnage.

(Source: www.schednet.com)