CargoMetrics data reveals depth of China cargo collapse

By Greg Miller | American Shipper

Just how severely has the coronavirus curtailed cargo flows to and from China, the world’s most important trade engine? Chinese government data is both after-the-fact and suspect, but Boston-based big-data company CargoMetrics is now providing a real-time answer.

CargoMetrics has spent the past decade amassing and analyzing ship-movement data, discerning patterns and developing quantitative predictive algorithms. It’s now bringing its powers to bear on what’s happening in China.

The company has just publicly released data that sheds new light on what transpired in the weeks following Chinese New Year (CNY). To better understand what the numbers mean, FreightWaves interviewed CargoMetrics CEO Scott Borgerson and Dan Brutlag, head of trading signal and data products.

Chinese imports in “freefall”

The first dataset tracks Chinese import tonnage, indexed in relation to CNY (1.0 = 5 days prior to CNY) for 2020 versus the 2012-2019 average.

“The data covers energy, dry, container activity, and other activity,” explained Brutlag. “Our model is based primarily on the net mass transferred by a vessel.” The mass is accounted for on the day it’s transferred on or off the ship…Full Story