Economic report: Cargo on the move

Freight container volumes have increased after hitting a 15 year low last year.

“The recent uptick in freight trends is encouraging and may indicate that the population trend has stabilized and may be increasing,” reads the report.

Break bulk cargo — essentially cargo that needs to be loaded individually, not in containers — continues to be “depressed by weak construction spending, which has been negative for the past six years in Bermuda.”

“Freight trends have also shown meaningful improvement,” states the report.

“We are increasing our 2014 growth forecast for cargo trends into Bermuda from 1 percent to 3 per cent after a significant pick-up in eastbound container volumes during the past three quarters.”

“While it is difficult to forecast a strong recovery after seven years of volume declines, it does appear that the 15 year freight volume low hit last year may have represented the near-term bottom in the economy.”