After a long barren period growth has returned to Asia to Middle East trade, although the same isn’t true for freight rates. South Asia continues to outpace its neighbour with rates moving upwards. It took six quarters but growth finally returned to the Asia to Middle East container trade, which improved by 7.2% year-on-year in the third quarter, according to the latest release by Container Trades Statistics (CTS). The recent uplift was just enough to push year-to-date growth into positive territory, with nine-month volumes up by 0.7% to 2.5 million teu. Source: Drewry