2020 one of decade¡¯s best years for container shipping: Moody¡¯
Source
American Shipper
Post Date
11/17/2020
In upgrading its outlook for the container shipping industry from negative to s, Moody¡¯s Investors Service on Wednesday said 2020 will be one of the strongest years for container lines since 2010.
¡°With supply and demand likely to be in balance given the very limited order book for new vessels, we expect a s operating environment in 2021,¡± Moody¡¯s stated. ¡°Even if the global economic recovery takes longer to materialize, given the rising infections in Europe and the US, carriers¡¯ capacity management should continue to keep freight rates broadly s.¡±
Citing carriers¡¯ capacity discipline, lower bunker fuel prices, and rising rates, the upgraded rating comes after Drewry last month upgraded its own 2020 profit expectation for the industry by 16 percent to $11 billion. More recently, Ocean Network Express this week announced it expects a 288 percent increase in fiscal year profitability and Yang Ming on Thursday reported its first profi quarter in more than two years. Maersk releases its third-quarter earnings on Nov. 18.
In its earlier rating report, Maria Maslovsky, vice president and senior analyst at Moody¡¯s Investors Service, warned the positive rate development could be challenged by a resurgence in COVID-19 infections, angering fragile demand for finished and semi-finished goods in advanced economies in North America and Europe.
Yet, while carriers are enjoying a late surge of Asian imports to North America and Europe, utives such as Hapag-Lloyd CEO Rolf Habben Jansen have cautioned that the elevated volumes aren¡¯t sustainable. Beyond a sharp pullback in Western demand for Asian imports, two other major external threats still loom over the industry.
¡°The outlook of container shipping still remains clouded in uncertainties over the possible comeback of the COVID-19 pandemic and US-China trade conflicts,¡± Yang Ming warned in its earnin
