Drewry: Container Port Throughput Index Rises By 4% Year-on-Year

The Drewry Container Port Throughput Indices are a series of calendar adjusted volume growth/decline indices based on monthly throughput data for a sample of over 340 ports worldwide, representing over 80% of global volumes. The base point for the indices is January 2019 = 100.

Drewry has developed a nowcasting model that uses vessel capacity and terminal duration data (derived from our proprietary AIS model) to make short-term predictions of port throughput.

Drewry’s latest assessment

Drewry’s Global Container Port Throughput Index increased 1.6% MoM in November, 4.0% higher YoY. The rolling 12-month growth rate for global port handling softened to 5.6% and the YTD growth to November was 6.1%. There was little change to last month, with Latin America recording the highest growth, up 11.3% YTD, and North America close behind at 11.1%. According to Drewry’s Nowcast model, the Global Port Throughput Index is anticipated to have risen 1.6% MoM in December to 118.0 points.

Major ports across China, including Shanghai, Ningbo and Qingdao experienced congestion due to the pre-holiday cargo rush and weather issues which controbuted to high yard utilisation. The Greater China Container Port Throughput Index rose 4.0% MoM to 120.8 points in November, up 3.1% YoY. On an annual comparison, volumes at Ningbo and Tianjin were well ahead of 2023, up 14.4% and 27.3% respectively.

The North American Container Port Throughput Index rose 3.2% MoM in November to 116.4 points (+12.7% YoY). The rolling 12-month growth rate increased to 10.4%, nearly double the global growth of 5.6%. West Coast ports continued to attract significant volumes in November compared to last year, except for strike-hit Vancouver where volumes were down 17% MoM.

The European Container Port Throughput Index fell 2.5% in November to 101.9 points, but remained up 6.4% YoY. The rolling 12-month growth rate improved to 4.5%, the closest it has been to the global average in over two years. The gap in growth between the sub-regions flipped in November, with the rolling 12-month average growth rate in North Europe (5.2%) higher than South Europe (3.7%) for the first time in over two years.
Source: Drewry