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ARTICLE · 26 OCTOBER 2022

Is The Tide Turning For Container Shipping?

AlixPartners Asia LLC
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AlixPartners' 2022 Container Shipping Outlook observed that "today's supply-demand mismatch could flip, possibly beginning as soon as 2023." It's looking more and more as if we got that forecast just about right.

GlobalTransport
Esben Christensen
Esben Christensen
Stelios Fragkos
Stelios Fragkos
Lian Hoon Lim
Lian Hoon Lim
Marc Iampieri
Marc Iampieri
Brian Nemeth
Brian Nemeth
Jason Keyes
Jason Keyes
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Eroding fundamentals portend tough times ahead for the industry

AlixPartners' 2022 Container Shipping Outlook observed that "today's supply-demand mismatch could flip, possibly beginning as soon as 2023." It's looking more and more as if we got that forecast just about right.

The container shipping market is cooling off, and some shippers are beginning to turn the change in temperature to their advantage. Many more shippers, keeping a wary eye on the uncertain intermediate-term outlook for rates, capacity, and service, will likely follow suit before long.

The container shipping industry's fundamentals looked much different in mid-2020, when limited vessel and infrastructure capacity collided with a sudden resurgence in demand. Shipping rates soared into the stratosphere, on-time reliability deteriorated, and container ship operators prospered mightily. But as our report pointed out, the imbalance couldn't last indefinitely.

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