South Korea’s biggest port and the fifth largest port of the world – The Busan Port – is running out of room to store shipping containers, the bigger concern is that boxes are all empty. Containers trade at Busan has fallen about 40% in recent months.
Empty containers, idled dockworkers and laid-up vessels have become a hallmark of ports from Singapore to Rotterdam that six months ago were straining to meet the flow of electronics, toys, cars and equipments.
Singapore, the world’s biggest container port, handled 1.97 million 20-foot containers in January, 20% less than a year earlier. In Shanghai, the second largest, traffic was down 19%, while Hong Kong, the No. 3, suffered a 23% drop.
The dockworkers earnings have fallen by half and some were taking less than $672 a month.
Global shipyards are still working through contracts placed since 2006; new orders have plummeted in the past 4 months.
A total of 153.6 million deadweight tons were ordered last year worldwide, 43% less than 2007. In January, 0.4 million tons were ordered an astonishing 97% from the same month a year earlier.
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