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NYK is to exit the Asia-West Africa trade, and could be the first of many operators, according to Drewry.

The analyst says more carriers might quit the sector as container volumes continue to fall, resulting in reduced vessel load factors and declining freight rates.

Data from Container Trades Statistics shows that southbound volumes from Asia to West Africa decreased in nine of the first ten months of 2015, compared with the previous year, with the most recent year-on-year declines reaching 10%.

“The lacklustre ...

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  • John Roberst

    December 08, 2015 at 3:19 pm

    It’s almost a perfect storm for shipping lines at the moment. They need to reduce capacity on some routes but there’s nowhere profitable for the vessels to be reassigned to as the rates seem to be low everywhere.
    On the positive side, if the price of oil continues to fall at the current rate, it will be free by the middle of February.