Europe’s top container ports are hunkering down for a potentially tumultuous 2015 dominated by a growing capacity glut and slowing cargo growth that will make the congestion of the past year appear like a minor irritant.

On the surface, everything looks fine. Rotterdam and Hamburg, the two largest container hubs, have largely shrugged off the creeping congestion that culminated in ship diversions and hefty surcharges last summer, while terminals in some of the world’s largest ports, from Los Angeles-Long Beach to Hong Kong, are gridlocked.

Traffic figures are looking good, too, largely because of unexpectedly strong growth in Asian imports. Rotterdam’s volume increased 4.2 percent in the first nine months of this year, to 9.2 million

Seguir leyendo