Shipping Industry in Deep Water
 

Shipping Industry in Deep Water

Hundreds of Toyotas are parked at the Port of Long Beach, where trade volumes have fallen to 2003 levels, a spokesman said.

Worldwide container traffic is expected to drop more than 10% this year.

By Ronald D. White
July 8, 2009

Trade at international ports is on track to drop more than 10% this year, one of the steepest declines ever, according to a new maritime industry report.

Cargo ships will carry 27 million fewer containers by year's end than they did in 2008 -- a reduction roughly equivalent to all of the cargo containers handled by the five busiest U.S. seaports in a typical year, according to London-based Drewry Shipping Consultants' Container Forecaster Report.

"There has never been a decline like this before. We have never seen numbers like these," said Neil Dekker, editor of the Drewry report. "The container industry is looking at a $20-billion black hole of losses. We can expect a lot of casualties."

Continues: http://www.latimes.com/business/la-f...,0,53929.story



On a positive note, the price of containers may go down and you could have a nice house or underground facility cheap:

:D AFFORDABLE HOUSING? Twelve AMAZING Shipping Container Houses

http://projectavalon.net/forum/showt...fordable+homes