Seaborne reefer trade is on the brink of returning to growth in 2023, with volumes set to increase by 2.1%, outpacing the wider dry cargo trade, to reach 140.5 million tons this year. Probably, reefer shipping will continue to outgun other cargo types as the perishables trade proves more resilient to economic downturns.
Having weathered numerous storms in 2022 when the trade stagnated, the outlook for the reefer sector is now looking much more favourable; easing supply chain disruption and growing cargo demand is helping to support volume growth.
The latest Drewry trade estimates also show that all reefer intensive trade routes experienced year-on-year growth in 1Q23, for first time since Drewry started analysing the trade in 2016, with total seaborne reefer trade expanding 2.7%.
