The Drewry Container Port Throughput Indices are a series of volume growth/decline indices based on monthly throughput data for a sample of over 220 ports worldwide, representing over 75% of global volumes. The base point for the indices is January 2012 = 100.

Drewry’s latest assessment - December 2018

After witnessing close to two points decline in Sept 2018, the Drewry Global Port Throughput Index regained the Aug 2018 level of 130.6 points. However, the annual increase was much higher at close to 6 points (4.6%) in Oct 2018.

All regions witnessed an annual increase in Oct 2018. North America was a star performer with 14.5 points (10.6 %) increase over Oct 2018 as imports poured in to beat the tariff deadline. This was followed by Asia (excl China) with 6.3% (7.6 points) increase.

North America outperformed all other regions in monthly as well as the annual increase. The throughput index was 10.5 points (7.5%) higher in Oct 2018. The leading ports of LA/LB and New York saw particularly strong growth.

The indices for all regions were higher when compared to September 2018 except China and Africa. However the decrease was much higher for Africa (3.7%, 4.2 points), whereas China was only close to three points (2.0%) down compared to Sept 2018. However, the annual increase for both was slightly more than 6 points in Oct 2018.

Europe witnessed close to 5% annual as well as a similar monthly increase in Oct 2018, with Benelux ports doing better than German ones, and in the Med, Barcelona continuing to shine. Latin America was 2.3% higher when compared to Sept 2018 but almost unchanged when compared to Oct 2017, with Panamanian Pacific coast transhipment volumes particularly hit.