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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.
Despite diverging pandemic paths in the world, global growth is forecast to reach 6% this year, according to the International Monetary Fund, following a 3.3% contraction last year. There are, however, still plenty of downside risks, especially as parts of the world are facing their worst coronavirus outbreaks to date and the prospect of a large part of the global population being vaccinated is still a long way off.
The year 2021 has started in much the same way as 2020 ended for US container imports; import volumes are still surging.
In many ways, shipping managed to dodge the worst bullet in 2020, as the nature of the crisis, its containment measures, and government stimulus around the world meant that global trade volumes were not hit as badly as global gross domestic product (GDP) or other even worse-performing sectors, such as services.
Cleaning a ship’s submerged parts from barnacles and other growths, while the ship is in the water, can transfer invasive species to local marine environments unless it is properly cleaned and the debris is captured. To combat this problem, and to provide clarity and quality assurance to shipowners, ports and government authorities, BIMCO and the International Chamber of Shipping (ICS) have published the first industry standard on in-water cleaning of ships.
October has been the best performing month of 2020 in terms of US exports of the goods outlined in the ‘Phase One’ trade agreement between the US and China. Export values of these goods totalled USD 10.3 billion, breaking the previous high of USD 7.8b in September.
Record-breaking GDP drops seen in the second quarter of the year have been replaced by record-breaking growth rates in the third. Despite this, the major economies of the world have still not returned to pre-pandemic levels, except China.
After the sharp and sudden shock of the pandemic, the economic recovery has begun and it is clear that it will be drawn out and uneven, both geographically and by sector. Though China has returned to growth, most other countries are lagging behind.
Challenging macro-economic fundamentals and a complete change of scenery in both the dry bulk and the tanker market within less than a couple of months, seem to have put a break on appetite for newbuilding orders, with owners having adopted a much more sceptical approach as far as investments on the newbuilding front are concerned. The weekly newbuilding report by Intermodal Research & Valuations feature, include newbuilding prices for dry bulk-, tanker- and gas shipping segments. Additionally, recent newbuilding orders are listed by units, type, size, yard, expected delivery date and price.
Transits through the Suez Canal, the beating heart of the Egyptian economy, have stayed remarkably resilient to the fallout of the Covid-19 pandemic if judging by total transits of the three commercial shipping sectors which are up 8% year-on-year.
