Container traffic down 1.5%

Singapore - A decline in global export has left Singapore, the world's largest container port, in November suffer its first decline in throughput traffic since 2001.

According to Financial Times, container traffic shrunk by 1.5% in November from a year ago to 2.29 million twenty-foot equivalent units (TEUs), Singapore's Maritime and Port Authority said.

Monthly traffic volume has been slowing since July, although total shipments have increased by 9% to 27.8 million TEUs through November from a year ago, the authority continued.

A slowdown in Singapore's container traffic has been predicted, after Singapore owned Neptune Orient Lines (NOL), recently announced cuts to its capacity by up to 25% on routes to Europe and North America.

Economists believe that Singapore's container traffic will continue to decline until at least mid-2009 as the city-state is expected to be among the worst-affected Asian countries in the global recession due to its heavy reliance on exports.