BIMCO’s shipping market overview

Macroeconomics: Global recovery threatened by vaccine inequalities and supply chain woes

Unequal vaccine distribution has put a stopper in the recovery in parts of the world, adding to supply chain disruptions and slowing growth even in countries protected by higher vaccination rates. In a globalised world, no one can return to normal before everyone can.

The world is increasingly divided between countries where high vaccination rates are protecting populations, and thereby protecting the economies, and countries at the other end of the scale where vaccination rates, in some cases, still stand in single-digits. This divide, coupled with the COVID-19 Delta variant, which has increasingly broken through the defences that kept many countries almost COVID-free, has prompted the International Monetary Fund (IMF) to revise its GDP growth forecast for 2021.

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Dry bulk: profits surge to multi-year highs as pandemic related demand and disruptions linger
Heading into the seasonally strongest part of the year, dry bulk owners have already enjoyed a very profitable year with the temporary factors helping the market stay strong expected to continue providing support into 2022.

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Container shipping: onshore disruption leading to record delays and profits
As ports and hinterland transport struggle to keep up, delays at ports are soaking up capacity leading to frustration on the shippers’ side and leaving carriers struggling to keep up all the while making record profits.

The container shipping market has frequently appeared in the headlines over the summer as freight rates and port congestion levels continue to reach record highs.

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Tanker shipping: profitability still a way off for loss making tankers as pandemic drags on
New virus mutations and outbreaks have slowed the recovery in global oil demand as some countries lock down again and international travel remains complicated.

To say that the summer has not been kind to the crude oil shipping industry would be an understatement. Average earnings have dropped below USD 10,000 per day since June for all crude oil tankers, with many trades offering negative earnings; freight rates are not high enough to cover voyage expenses, let alone operating and financing costs.

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