Box demand and capacity mismatch concerns
A mismatch between container terminal demand and capacity means there is an urgent need for growth in port development through to 2017, according to Drewry.
Neil Davidson, the company’s senior advisor, ports, describes capacity as “lagging behind anticipated demand”.
Speaking at Navis World, Mr Davidson put world container demand growth for five years to 2017 at an average of 6% per annum, but with some big variations on a region by region basis.
While North and South Europe looks flat, Eastern Europe demand growth will be close to 12% per annum, albeit from a low base.
On the supply side, Mr Davidson said that forecasting terminal capacity has become much harder than forecasting demand.
“Port operators have become much more vague about capacity additions than they have been in the past, which makes it a lot harder for us to make this projection,” he noted.
That said, the consultant expects global port capacity to be 1.08bn teu by 2017, marking an average growth of 3.3% per annum.
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