The contract logistics market in Asia Pacific has been growing at a rate of around 11% over the last three years and despite the adverse effects of the economic woes in the west, growth is expected to continue in 2009. Financial instability and the resulting economic fallout in Europe and the US have already led to reductions in consumer spending and increases in unemployment. Stephen S Roach, chairman of Morgan Stanley's Asian division, spoke at the World Economic Forum in September: "US growth has been driven by a consumption binge. Consumption accounted for 72% of GDP last year and now that the binge is over there will be a multi-year adjustment period for the US economy."

China's National Bureau of Statistics has announced that economic growth in the third quarter of 2008 was 9% year-on-year. This is down from 10.1% in the previous quarter, which had also declined from the first quarter. This falling growth rate can be seen as the first evidence of the impact of the credit crisis on Asia, and can be attributed to exports, investment and consumption. However, it may also be partly due to the government's interventions over the past year to prevent overheating in the starkly different economic environment of booming growth.

China and India have led growth in the region but emerging markets such as Malaysia, Indonesia and Vietnam have also contributed. Jiang Jianqing, chairman of the board of the Industrial Commercial Bank of China said at the recent World Economic Forum that the Chinese economy would continue to grow at around 10%. This continued growth is evidence that the region is partially, but not completely, decoupled from western markets.

In Malaysia for example, the impact has been felt in the reduction of the value of exports to the US, from MYR8.2 billion in August 2007 to MYR6.95 billion in August 2008. Nevertheless, the value of Malaysia's total exports has risen by 11% to MYR60 billion to date, as compared to the same period in 2007. This can be attributed to the importance of trading with Japan, South Korea and ASEAN partner countries. ASEAN countries accounted for 27% of Malaysia's total exports in August, representing a 5% increase from the same period last year.

There is already a sharp downturn of volume in the logistics industry as a whole, due to the slowing consumer spending in western markets.