LAU General Discussion, page-67

What you say is true and as always, there's the risk of an even greater decline in container shipping volumes, given the mainland communist Chinese economy isn't performing well to put it mildly. To me, a four per cent drop isn't huge given the immediately previous unseasonal, extremely buoyant trading conditions enjoyed by these shipping lines during 2022.

In June 2023, Australia's busiest container port, Melbourne, handled 230,199 TEUs ('twenty foot equivalent units', i.e. the smaller container size). In June 2022, it was at 241,897, so container volumes measured in this way have dropped by about 4.84 per cent so that's roughly in line with Maresk's worldwide experience that's more focused on Europe than Melbourne's, although both have Asia as important (not just mainland China, but southeast and northeast plus the subcontinent).

There's at least a small uptick possible for LAU as its numerous exports will enjoy lower cost per tonne if being conveyed by a giant container vessel.