Recent Eurostat data shows that, in terms of total gross weight of goods, the United States was the EU’s largest freight shipping partner in the second quarter of 2022, with a total of 61 million tonnes, surpassing Russia ( 57 million tons).
Russia ranked second, followed by the United Kingdom (55 million tons), Türkiye (36 million), China (31 million), Norway (29 million), Brazil (24 million), Egypt (19 million), Nigeria ( 14 million). million) and Canada (13 million). EU shipping with the US, Russia and the UK combined accounted for one third of total non-EU shipping of goods.
Comparing the second quarter of 2022 with the same quarter of 2021, shipping between the EU and Russia registered the largest drop (-22.1%), followed by Brazil (-12.6%). By contrast, traffic between the EU and Egypt and the United States increased substantially over the same period, by 22.9% and 21.1% respectively.
Trade flows dominated by the entry of bulk liquid goods
In Q2 2022, 17 of the top 20 trade flows were inbound movements and 3 were outbound movements: Roll-on Roll-off (Ro-Ro) mobile unit outbound movements to the UK (11 million tons); and large containers to China (8 million) and the East Coast of the United States (7 million). The top 3 inflows were large containers from China (16 million), crude oil from the US East Coast (10.4 million), and oil products from Russian ports on the Baltic Sea (10.4 million). millions).
Bulk liquid products (crude oil, petroleum products and liquefied gas) dominated inbound trade flows, with the exception of large containers from China; coal from the east coast of the United States and Australia; minerals and agricultural products from Brazil; and UK Ro-Ro mobile units.
In the second quarter of 2022, crude oil (10 million tons) and liquefied gas (9 million tons) from East Coast ports accounted for almost a third (32%) of total transport between the EU and the United States. Incoming coal movements (7 million) from the same ports in the United States were also substantial, representing 12% of the total shipment.
When comparing the second quarter of 2022 with the same quarter of 2021, there were substantial increases in inbound movements. The largest increases occurred in liquefied gas, coal and crude oil from the East Coast of the United States (+87.7%, +85.4% and +64.6%, respectively); crude oil from Egypt (+86.1%), UK (+61.5%), Nigeria (+35.7%), Norway (+32.7%) and Türkiye (+10.7%); Australian coal (+31.2%); and petroleum products from Russian ports in the Baltic Sea (+11.1%).
By contrast, large declines were observed for crude oil from Russian ports on the Baltic Sea (-46.6%) and Russian ports on the Black Sea (-24.0%); and minerals and agricultural products from Brazil (-34.1% and 14.3%, respectively). Regarding outgoing movements, there were strong decreases in large containers to China (-29.2%) and the East Coast of the United States (-10.4%).
Source: EuroStat
