Container exports from Japan to the US reached 53,298 TEUs in October, down 8.6 per cent year on year (YoY) but up 26.7 per cent from September, according to Descartes Datamyne.
Total exports for January through October stood at 528,492 TEUs, a 2.4 per cent decline from the same period in 2024.
Direct shipments accounted for 37,555 TEUs in October, falling 13.3 per cent YoY, while 15,743 TEUs were transshipped, rising 5.3 per cent and representing 29.5 per cent of total exports.
Of the transshipped containers, 11,079 TEUs went via South Korea (+9.4 per cent), 2,402 via China (+22.5 per cent), 1,443 via Taiwan (+1.8 per cent), and 267 via Singapore (–73.7 per cent).
Among direct exports, Tokyo handled 13,964 TEUs (–21.6 per cent), Nagoya 12,083 TEUs (–1.5 per cent), Kobe 7,494 TEUs (–23.5 per cent), Yokohama 2,699 TEUs (+5.8 per cent), and Osaka 470 TEUs (+94.2 per cent).
The surge at Osaka was driven by increased auto-related shipments, which prefer direct routing.
By commodity, vehicles (excluding railway/tramway rolling stock) rose 5.2 per cent to 12,001 TEUs. Nuclear reactors, machinery, and related equipment fell 16.9 per cent to 11,909 TEUs.
Rubber products increased 1 per cent to 5,747 TEUs, plastics declined 14 per cent to 5,561 TEUs, and electrical machinery, including sound and video equipment, dropped 3.4 per cent to 3,314 TEUs.
In August, TradeWaltz Inc. signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Trade Tech to promote the “Global Reliable Authorized Commerce Express (GRACE)” project.
