September and October are traditionally the busiest times for container lines as they transport toys, electronics, clothes and other Christmas essentials from factories in China to store shelves in Europe and North America.
But with just 13 weeks to go before Christmas, shipping lines and freight forwarders are seeing little of the surge in shipped goods that characterised last year, as Western economies rein in spending amid uncertain economic conditions.
Eivind Kolding, chief executive of Maersk Line, the world's largest container shipping company with about 500 ships, said this year's pre-holiday shipping rush 'seems to be more like a hill than a peak'.
His views were echoed by Jacques Chan, general manager for Hong Kong and South China for global freight forwarding firm BDP International. He said market conditions in Europe were weak, while the overall economic outlook was gloomy.
Speaking in Hong Kong, Kolding said Maersk's fleet operating on Asia-Europe and transpacific routes was sailing about 90 per cent full. 'But in the peak season we would like to see closer to 100 per cent,' he said. Kolding added the peak season 'was definitely not to the extent we hoped for'.
Other carriers have forecast a premature end to the peak with the possibility the rush could be over by the end of this month, four weeks earlier than usual.
This would be a prelude to shipping lines idling container ships in November and December to cut costs and capacity, while trying to maintain freight rates ahead of the slack winter season.