Drewry: Slow growth in Chinese imports poses risks for container trade

Industry analyst Drewry has warned that the slowdown in Chinese economic growth is likely to hit container trade.

The IMF has forecast Chinese growth of 6.8% in 2015 and 6.3% in 2016 and, while this is relatively high globally, the slowing trend has prompted Drewry to downgrade its outlook for Greater China and, subsequently, world container traffic.

The analyst is now predicting a growth in Chinese container throughput of 4.9%, down from 5.8%. This shortfall accounts for around 1.85m teu, roughly 1% of world traffic in 2014.