MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Shipping sectors benefit from the Red Sea blockade, boosting demand for ships and higher fares

Data from Clarksons Research, seaborne trade remains on track to record a 6.5% growth in ton-miles this year, the fastest rate of expansion for 14 years

But the Red Sea shipping scenario with the Houthis attacks, and to a smaller extent, the drought in Panama – have had as can be expected in such situations, some sectors that can benefit. That is why most shipping sectors have experienced the strongest growth in ton-miles registered this year since 2010, helping prop up rates to highly profitable levels

According to data from Clarksons Research, seaborne trade remains on track to record a 6.5% growth in ton-miles this year, the fastest rate of expansion for 14 years. Annual ton-mile growth has averaged 2.9% since the financial crisis.

“With disruption and increasing trade complexity driving voyage distances, this has significantly boosted vessel demand,” Clarksons noted in its most recent weekly report.

The volume of global seaborne trade is on track to reach 12.6bn tons this year, according to the London broker, which is also forecasting what it describes as a “mind- boggling” 66.6trn ton-miles.

Speaking at last month’s Maritime CEO Forum held at the Monaco Yacht Club, Jan Rindbo, the CEO of Danish shipping giant Norden, pointed out that the world fleet today is built for a totally optimized trade.

“This is why we have great markets because we’ve seen this fragmentation with Russia, Red Sea or whatever it is,” he explained. “So I think fragmentation will mean you need more ships to transport the same volume of cargo.”

The ClarkSea Index, a weighted cross-sector barometer of shipping created by Clarksons, stood at US$ 23,022 day on Friday, 32% above the 10-year trend.

Data from Gersemi Asset Management shows containerships have seen the greatest rejig of trading patterns thanks to the ongoing Houthi campaign against merchant shipping in the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden.

Alphaliner reported in November that proportionally, the ongoing Red Sea crisis has had a bigger impact on box-ship employment than covid, helping propel earnings to remarkable highs this year.

US-based Blue Alpha Capital estimates suggest liner shipping made a combined US$ 26.8bn profit in Q3, more than twice what the container shipping industry earned in any previous full year outside of the covid era.