Business of Shipping: Container Shipping Well-Positioned to Withstand COVID-19 Downturn

Source: gCaptain Originally published on: 25/03/2020

Port of Rotterdam. Photo credit: By Beketoff / ShutterstockBy Ira Breskin – The world’s container shipping industry is well-positioned to withstand the COVID-19 -induced downtown, say industry experts.

Speakers offered that consensus view last week during the TPM 20: What We Missed: The Economic, Trade and Container Shipping Outlook webcast. The presentation featured talks originally scheduled to be given earlier this month at the canceled annual Trans-Pacific Maritime (TPM) conference in Long Beach, CA that is run by The Journal of Commerce and IHS Markit, its parent.

Carriers have shown discipline during this downturn by quickly reducing sailings in the face of falling demand, said Rahul Kapoor, IHS Markit’s head of Global Research and Analytics, Maritime and Trade. That’s due, in large part, to increased flexibility resulting from the evolution of the newest-generation carrier alliances that date back several years. These alliances have facilitated, ongoing capacity consolidation, to protect rates. Kapoor noted that “subpar container volume is the new normal.”...

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