A turn for the better - on thin grounds
According to flash estimates, the container throughput index of the RWI –Leibniz Institute for Economic Research and the Institute for Shipping Economics and Logistics (ISL) reported a surprising uptick of 2.2 points to 115.4 points in January. However, the value is still significantly below its peak of summer 2019 and is based on a modified database.
The results are not entirely comparable to earlier publications, since the number of ports in the survey was adjusted at the beginning of the year. Furthermore, the index was adapted to the new base year of 2015.
The flash estimate for February is based on information collected from 39 ports, which handle only 40% of the throughput described in the index. Since many high-performance port locations in Asia have not yet published their data, major revisions are likely.
Roland Döhrn, RWI's head of macroeconomics, also sees the data as an interim result. The RWI/ISL container throughput index for February 2020 will be published on 24 March 2020. (mw)