Drewry's research shows that the average size of vessel deployed between Asia and North Europe now exceeds 10,000 TEUs for the first time. Orders for Ultra Large Container Vessels (ULCVs) have been quiet recently, but the pace of growth in vessel sizes will continue to outstrip cargo growth for the foreseeable future.

Ship-level and container-level key performance indicators showed significant quarter-on-quarter increases in reliability in the fourth quarter of 2012, according to Drewry's quarterly report Carrier Performance Insight, just published.

The Drewry Hong Kong-Los Angeles container rate benchmark, published in the latest Container Freight Rate Insight report, jumped 14 percent to $2,524 per 40-foot container last week, as the January peak season surcharge (PSS) took effect.

Independent specialist advisors Drewry and global forwarder network WACO-System intend to introduce the first independent multi-trade air cargo freight rate benchmarks into the market.

Shipbuilding production levels have remained at record high levels, exceeding 50 million compensated gross tons (cgt) for two consecutive years (2010 -2011), with 2012 forecasted to remain close to 2011 levels, according to Drewry Maritime Research. However, the orderbook that forms the contracted forward workload has diminished rapidly and tails off to very low levels for 2014 and beyond.

Container service reliability across all trades fell marginally in the third quarter with the percentage of on-time ship arrivals dropping to 73.5 percent, down from the record high of 75.7 percent set in the second quarter, according to Drewry's quarterly report Carrier Performance Insight.