World trade starting to feel it
The container throughput index published by the RWI Leibniz Institute for Economic Research and the Institute of Shipping Economics and Logistics (ISL) showed a decline in February 2022, decreasing clearly from 120.7 points (seasonally adjusted) to 117.1 points, according to the latest flash estimate.
The setback is global. The index for Chinese ports shrunk significantly from 130.6 to 106.9 points. The index for Europe’s North Range also decreased, from 111.1 (revised) to 106.0 points.
Torsten Schmidt, RWI’s head of economic research, commented: “The recovery in container throughput has again suffered a setback. However, the sanctions against Russia are only one reason for the decline in European ports. There are also still bottlenecks in transport capacities.” The RWI/ISL index for March 2022 will be published on 29 April 2022. (sh)