PSA International, a leading global container terminal operator has reported full year negative box figures for 2009. Volumes slumped across the business’s 28 terminals by nearly 10 per cent in 2009 to 56.93m teu. PSA Singapore suffered, its flagship business, reported a 13 per cent decline in full year figures of 25.14m teu.

‘This first-ever decline in PSA’s global container throughput was brought on by the sharp contraction in world trade last year,’ the business said in a released statement.

Group CEO of PSA International, Eddie Teh said, “2009 was a year of unprecedented hardship and challenges for the port and shipping industries. The global economic downturn and massive slump in global trade caused a drastic drop in demand for container shipping. PSA took urgent measures in 2009 to reset its capacity needs and reduce operating costs without compromising on the quality reliable services we provide to our shipping line customers; and we will continue to work very closely with all our customers through these difficult times.”

Teh continued by warning that the slump was not over yet and predicted 2010 would be “another challenging year”.