FEFC lines carry 9% extra eastbound cargo

The London-based Far Eastern Freight Conference, whose member lines are formulating a new eastbound tariff, said first half volume in the Europe-to-Asia trade increased 9 percent to 1.67 million TEUs.

On a regional basis, box traffic from North Europe to the Far East for the first six months of 2007 improved 8 percent to 1.36 million TEUs while Mediterranean-to-Asia cargoes increased 13.8 percent to 308,690 TEUs.

The FEFC last month reported a 20.9 percent gain in the head-haul westbound trade to 4.52 million TEUs.