Global TEU volumes increased by 4% in 2014 to 135.4 million TEUs, the Port of Rotterdam Authority reports.
Inter‐continental trade rose by 3.4%, while intra‐regional volumes increased by 5.4% to 30.4 million TEUs.
2014 TEU volumes carried to and from Europe (including all countries bordering the Mediterranean) and between European countries increased by 5.4% to 46.9 million TEUs, according to Container Trades Statistics (CTS). Imports grew faster than exports: by 5.7% and 4.5%, respectively, while regional trade (excluding feeder boxes) was 7.3% higher.
Exports from Europe increased on all routes, except for Latin America. Trade to North America has benefited from the depreciation of the Euro against the US dollar, leading to a growth of 9.6%. Trade to the Middle East/ISC also rose by 9.1%. Exports to the Far East increased by 1.3%.
Containerised imports into Europe were higher, this particularly due to a high 7.4% rise of Far East imports and a significant trade increase with the Middle East/ISC. The containerised imports from the US to Europe declined by 1.2%.
Container Trades Statistics cover overall inter‐continental deepsea routes and around 85% of the worldwide full container trade, and do not include feeder containers.