Source: UNCTAD, Review of Maritime Transport.

Containerized Cargo Flows along Major Trade Routes, 1995-2006 (in million TEUs)

Container flows are quite representative of global trade imbalances, which have steadily been growing since the 1990s. For instance, there are 3 times as much containers moving from Asia to the United States (13.9 million TEUs in 2006) than there are from the United States to Asia (4.6 million TEU). This implied a combined American imbalance of 9.6 million TEU with Asia and Europe. By 2005, about 70% of the slots of containerships leaving the United States were empty with major container ports such as Los Angeles handling large amounts of empty containers, 2.3 million TEU alone were exported in 2005. The Asia-Europe trade route is facing a similar imbalance, but at a lesser level; 6.7 million TEU. Thus, production and trade imbalances in the global economy are clearly reflected in imbalances in physical flows and transport rates. For Transpacific trade, it costs more per TEU for eastbound flows than for westbound flows, making freight planning a complex task for container shipping companies. For Asia-Europe flows, westbound rates are higher than eastbound rates. Thus, production and trade imbalances in the global economy result in imbalances in physical flows and transport rates. Even if eastbound trans-Pacific rates are lower than westbound trans-Pacific rates, in theory conferring an advantage to American exports, costs differences are so in favor of Asia (China) that the American economy does not take much advantage of this benefit.