Against this background, and while growth
decelerated significantly, containerized trade volumes
expanded in 2012 to reach 155 million TEUs (figure
1.5(a)) (Clarkson Research Services, 2013b).
Containerized trade, which accounted for 65 per
cent of “other dry cargo” in 2012 (that is, nearly two
thirds of the 2.28 billion tons of dry cargo that remain
after removing dry-bulk commodities), increased
by 3.2 per cent in 2012, down from 13.1 per
cent in 2010 and 7.1 per cent in 2011. The sharp
deceleration resulted from the depressed volumes on the mainlane East–West trade, in particular, the
Asia–Europe trade route.