The half-year health check on the state of the maritime markets finds shipowners in a better place than they anticipated 12 months ago. While tankers will have to wait for a meaningful vaccine-led recovery, box and bulk are booming.
It has been an eventful nine months in 2022 for the supply chain industry. Ocean freight rates reached unprecedented highs as supply chain disruptions continued to roil the industry. Prices are finally cooling down, but still continue to be very high and are nowhere close to the 2019 levels. Will ocean freight rates continue to soften or will it rise again? What will be the impact of a looming recession, the conflict in Europe and a new set of regulations that kicks in early next year to rein in carbon emissions from ships?