Global seaborne trade falls 4.5 percent in 2009: UNCTAD

International seaborne trade contracted by 4.5 percent in 2009, while the deliveries of new vessels in the same period grew by 42 percent, indicating a slow recovery ahead, the United Nations Trade and Development Conference (UNCTAD) said Monday in a report issued here.

The Review of Maritime Transport 2010 analyzed figures from 2009 to mid-2010, warning that "fragile global economic conditions may still hinder the hard-pressed shipping industry."

In the report, total seaborne trade in 2009 was estimated at 7. 84 billion tons, lower than the 2007 levels, and the all-time high record in 2008.

Indicators such as world container port throughput suffered an estimated 9.7 percent decline, down to 465.7 million twenty-foot equivalent units (TEUs) in 2009, the report said.

Seaborne trade in dry bulk commodities, including iron ore, grain, coal, phosphate, bauxite and alumina which represent around one quarter of seaborne trade, only went up slightly by 1.4 percent in 2009, which is largely contributed by the 7.8 percent increase in iron ore maritime trade.

In the main time, the report said, supplies of new vessels showed "no signs of abating," with an increase of 84 million deadweight tons (DWT), at the beginning of 2010, bringing the total capacity of world merchant fleet to 1,276 million DWT. The increase is based on a 42 percent jump in vessel delivery in 2009 over the previous year.

The report anticipated a "depressed" freight rates for many vessel types in the time ahead.
(Source:xinhua)