Ocean Freight Comments
Transportation and Export Report: Jay O’Neil, O’Neil Commodity Consulting: 2019 is not starting out favorably for vessel owners. Global freight markets are waking up slowly after the holidays, but they are not feeling too confident nor positive about the future. Tariff disputes and the pace of the U.S. and Chinese economies remain negative influences for global trade.
The vessel industry faces serious cost increases relative to the 2020 lower CO2 emissions standards and will have a difficult time finding ways to recover these costs if the market does not recover and move upward. This could have serious consequences to the survival of some vessel operators.
The charts below represent 2018 YTD totals versus 2017 annual totals for container shipments to China.
