Trans-Pacific slot use to drop this year.(RADAR SCREEN)(Brief article)

Shippers will only use about 85 percent of the container capacity available on trans-Pacific trade lanes this year, the weakest utilization rate since 2001, according to Mark Page, research director of Drewry Shipping Consultants in London. The slot utilization rate was 90 percent last year, but "there is significantly more space available this year," Page told The Journal of Commerce's annual Trans-Pacific Maritime Conference in Long Beach this month. U.S. demand for Asian imports is "robust," albeit growing at a slower rate than in 2005. However, the …