Research and Markets has released the "Global Shipping Industry 2013 - Forecast, Trends & Opportunities" report, now available from their report offerings.
According to the report, during the coming years, the global shipping industry is expected to decline by 5-10% due to oversupply and high bunker oil prices that will eventually lead to constraining of its performance.
A sustained oversupply of vessels combined with high bunker oil prices will pressure margins in most shipping segments. The dry-bulk and crude oil tanker segments are likely to have the largest supply-demand gap in 2013, complicating these sectors' ability to meaningfully improve their earnings, said the report.
The tanker market has also been affected by the oversupply of vessels in the near term aided by lower OPEC production levels; though the outlook for the product tanker segment is more favorable since demand growth is likely to outpace supply during 2013, leading freight rates to rise by the end of this year. Box freight rates for the container segment have rebounded since March this year. However, strong improvement in earnings should not be expected for the full year in this segment. This reflects sustained high bunker oil costs and pressure on container rates stemming from recent increases in deployed tonnage of box ships.
Although, Japanese conglomerates are likely to be affected to a lesser extent by negative market trends affecting other global shipping companies owing to their scale, diversification (including their liquefied natural gas, or LNG, fleets) and strong relationships with customers.
AP Moller Maersk, Nippon Yusen, Kawasaki Kisen, Mitsui OSK Lines, China COSCO and Evergreen Marine are some top players in the industry, the report suggested.