Recent statistics have shown a huge increase of 785,000teu of capacity to the global market for the first four months of this year. Mainly through new build vessels and the return of laid up tonnage. Some analysts believe the rates may have stabilised recently but nobody is predicting the same skydive in rates as of 18 months ago.
Another question posed is if this recent boom in traffic was caused by inventory restocking or organic growth? However, with increasing confidence and the shipping lines determination to get back into the black, the rates could well rise further towards the latter part of the year. All very interesting, but I’m still not allowed to talk about it at dinner parties.
