North European ports sprint finish

Anticipating “good results” for the third quarter with a 7% rise in imports and a 6% rise in exports, the outlook for the first six months of 2014 versus the same period 2013 is for a rebound of 7.3% for imports and 7.1% for exports.

“Focus on international trade is finally bringing an end to two years of downturn,” said Ben Hackett, chief executive of Hackett Associates. “We believe that 2014 is set to be an excellent year for recovery.”

International trade forecasts for Europe as a whole project a 4.6% increase in total imports to Europe with 21.8m teu, with North Europe projected to fall to 12.2m teu. Exports are set to increase by 4.2% increase to a total of 17.7m teu, with North Europe decreasing to 10.6m teu.