Drewry: Asia-West Africa trade needs capacity rationalisation

Capacity rationalisation in the Asia-West Africa trade is needed in order to achieve a freight recovery, analyst Drewry has argued.

Although the third quarter is traditionally one of the strongest periods of the year, the trade saw an unexpectedly steep fall of 19% in volumes in the three months ended September 2016, representing the seventh consecutive quarter with a negative comparison.

“This trade is in dire need of capacity rationalisation, along the lines of what happened in Asia-East Coast South America, if a freight recovery is to be achieved,” the analyst claimed.