Demand to outstrip new capacity this year, says brokers

Demand growth in the container sector is expected to outpace capacity expansion this year, according to Clarksons.

“Together with the rapid rate of demolition, the thin order book outside the larger sizes and a likely slowdown of the ‘cascade’, this may in the medium-term lend gradual support to the earnings environment,” the British shipping broker added.

Looking back at 2014, it said global container trade is estimated to have grown by 6%. “The recovery in volumes on the trades from Asia to Europe and the US first seen in 2013 came through strongly in 2014, supplementing the growth in volumes on the intra-Asian trade and a number of regional trade lanes,” it commented.