Protectionism blamed for global handling slowdown

Trade protectionism has been blamed for an overall slowdown in volumes at world ports in the first quarter of this year, with the throughput growth rate down 2.9 percentage points year-on-year.

The Port of Rotterdam was the eighth-highest port in the world for cargo throughput in Q1 2018 Photo: Frans Berkelaar/flickr/CC BY-ND 2.0

Trade protectionism has been blamed for an overall slowdown in volumes at world ports in the first quarter of this year, with the throughput growth rate down 2.9 percentage points year-on-year.