#Ports&Shipping –The latest IMDO Weekly Shipping Market Review includes the following stories as detailed below.

Container Market: Asia-Europe volumes continue strongly -Container volumes from Asia to Europe continued their strong growth in April, with the sub-routes to the Western Mediterranean and North Africa showing the largest volume increases of 6%. The latest Container Trade Statistics figures as reported by Lloyds List show that overall Asia-Europe volumes increased in April 5.2% year-on-year to 1.2m teu, meaning that for the first four months of the year, volumes have increase 5.8% year-on-year to reach 4.7m teu.

Dry Bulk Market: Across the board declines -The dry bulk market continues to struggle with its overall lacklustre performance. The Baltic Dry Index (BDI) remained hovering below the 1,000 point mark last week, as the index declined 96 points across the week to finish at 906. All sub-segments saw declines,with the Capesize market losing part of the momentum it had developed over the previous week.

US Ports: New infrastructure and dredging bill signed -The Barack Obama signed into law last week the US Water Resources Reform and Development Act of 2014, a $12.3bn water-projects plan to invest in infrastructure and deepening of US ports to allow for larger ships and reduce costs for exporters. The plan is the first water infrastructure bill since 2007 and authorises 34 projects including dredging, flood control, hurricane recovery and environmental restoration. A key driver it to provide funding for dredging of US ports to allow them to accommodate the larger ships that will soon be traversing the newly-expanded Panama Canal.

For more on each of the above and other stories click the PDF downloadable IMDO Weekly Markets Review (Week 24). In addition to coverage on Afloat.ie's dedicated Ports & Shipping News section.