Global container shipping growth is anticipated to see the slowest rate of growth in more than 25 years as falling freight rates bring many shipping companies down into severe losses, according to gCaptain.
Read: Slowing Ship Growth to Quell Overcapacity?
Global shipping capacity is anticipated to grow by more than 4% in 2016.
Alphaliner said: “Falling below the previously smallest year-on-year increase of 5.5%, recorded in 2009, it will register well below the average annual growth rate of 10.3%, recorded since 1990.”
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Peter Sand, Shipping Analyst at BIMCO, said: “The new normal level of demand is somewhat lower than originally expected – just as global GDP growth keeps disappointing us.”
The shipping industry is currently stuck in a period of overcapacity and low freight rates, with many shipping lines ordering more vessels to prepare for a positive jolt in demand.
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Olaf Merk, Administrator of Ports and Shipping at the ITF of the OECD recently remarked that the bigger ships do not bring more trade and cause peaks at terminals, since terminal capacity becomes saturated from the increased load of containers.
