Egypt looks east

摘要

Egyptian importers are sourcing proportionally more goods from Asia generally, and China in particular. As a result, container lines are having to reassess their strategies for serving this fast-growing market. Clive Woodbridge investigates. During 2004, the volume of container traffic moving between Asia and Egypt increased rapidly, driven to a large extent by surging Chinese exports to North Africa's most important market. The assessment made by the leading carriers active in this trade is that containerised cargo flows moving from Asia to Egypt increased by 15-20% compared with 2003, while Egyptian exports to Asia also achieved a healthy double-digit rate of growth of close to 10%. Omar Shamsie, managing director of Maersk Egypt, told CI: 'Volumes - primarily on the westbound leg - were strong, and higher than expected, based on the original forecasts made in 2003. On the backhaul eastbound trade, we also witnessed an increase, primarily driven by marble exports to China.'