The price of fuel fixing

摘要

The mighty transpacific tradelane was not a happy hunting ground for ocean carriers last year. After five years of remarkable double-digit cargo growth per annum, fuelled through American manufacturers offshoring to China, and its citizens re-mortgaging themselves up to the hilt to take advantage of it, the party finally came to an end through the onslaught of the credit crunch. The latest information suggests that trade growth last year in the dominant eastbound direction from Asia to North America reached no more than 2%. Growth to the US East Coast/Gulf was greater than to the West Coast, where there was no growth at all.