Container index takes a fall in April
The downturn had been expected. The container throughput of the RWI Leibniz Institute for Economic Research and the Institute for Shipping Economics (ISL) fell from 110.4 (corrected) to 108.9 in April, down 6.5% from the value of the same period last year.
In the Chinese ports, the seasonally adjusted throughput was around 2.5% lower than in the previous month. The north range index, which provides information on economic trends in northern Europe, dropped by 2.8 points to 104.3.
This is the lowest value for three years. The current flash estimate for the container throughput index is based on data from 52 ports which generate around 74% of the throughput described in the index. The RWI/ISL container throughput index for May 2020 will be published on 25 June 2020. (mw)