{"id":94418,"date":"2026-02-19T08:11:38","date_gmt":"2026-02-19T11:11:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/shipping.einnews.com\/article\/893680135"},"modified":"2026-02-19T08:11:38","modified_gmt":"2026-02-19T11:11:38","slug":"the-daily-view-shipping-capacity-in-the-new-world-order","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/new7.shop\/zerocostfreehost\/index.php\/2026\/02\/19\/the-daily-view-shipping-capacity-in-the-new-world-order\/","title":{"rendered":"The Daily View: Shipping capacity in the new world order"},"content":{"rendered":"
<\/div>\n

THE pandemic wreaked havoc on \u201cjust-in-time\u201d supply chains with streamlined sourcing.<\/p>\n

Businesses learnt the hard way that \u201cjust in case\u201d models make sense in a world of extreme events, where the inefficiencies of sourcing redundancies and higher inventories are hedges against not having a product to sell.<\/p>\n

A similar dynamic across the global shipping industry. And on a larger scale.<\/p>\n

The pandemic is long over but, courtesy of geopolitics, disruptions remain rampant. As FMC commissioner Daniel Maffei put it: \u201cBlack swans are now as common as pigeons in Central Park.\u201d<\/p>\n

The consensus is for more splintering, more conflicts, more disruptions.<\/p>\n

Rising trade inefficiencies and bifurcated fleets imply that the world will need more ships, all else being equal, to move the same amount of cargo.<\/p>\n

A geopolitical tipping point has been passed. You would be hard-pressed to find anyone predicting some kumbaya moment, with all the world\u2019s governments joining hands to embrace unfettered trade, uniform regulation and mutual goodwill.<\/p>\n

In today\u2019s divided world, there is less fear of premature obsolescence when ordering a newbuilding with traditional propulsion, because there is less of a belief in a future global carbon tax.<\/p>\n

There is less impetus to retire ageing tonnage because there is greater belief that older ships will continue to find employment outside regional emissions zones or in sanctioned fleets.<\/p>\n

Container lines are showing a curiously resilient hunger for tonnage, both young and old.<\/p>\n

Boxship leasing rates remain near post-Covid highs despite slumping freight rates. Hapag-Lloyd<\/a> just announced the purchase of the Zim\u2019s leased fleet for $4.2bn or $35 per share, a 58% premium to Zim<\/a>\u2019s closing price on Friday.<\/p>\n

Boxship scrapping remains exceptionally limited. In fact, scrapping for all ship types has been unusually low, coinciding with rising geopolitical unrest.<\/p>\n

The number of ships scrapped annually in the three years after the pandemic is fewer than half the average in the three years before it.<\/p>\n

Perhaps this is nothing but the same age-old story: shipping\u2019s seemingly unstoppable urge toward overcapacity.<\/p>\n

But there may be a new wrinkle this time: a belief among owners and operators that world trade and geopolitical relations have fundamentally changed, that black swans are just white swans, and that there will be demand ahead for a larger and more flexible global fleet.<\/p>\n

If so, shipowners would want to have enough tonnage to take advantage of the seemingly inevitable disruptions to come, lest they find themselves in the shoes of just-in-time importers during Covid, suffering stockouts when demand was preternaturally high.<\/p>\n

Greg Miller
Senior maritime reporter, Lloyd\u2019s List<\/p>\n

Click here<\/a> to view the latest Lloyd\u2019s List Daily Briefing<\/p>\n

<\/a><\/strong> <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

… playing out across the global shipping<\/span> industry. And on a … move the same amount of cargo<\/span>. A geopolitical tipping point … post-Covid highs despite slumping freight<\/span> rates. Hapag-Lloyd\u00c2\u00a0just … the same age-old story: shipping<\/span>\u00e2\u0080\u0099s seemingly unstoppable urge toward …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fifu_image_url":"","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-94418","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news","wpcat-1-id"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/new7.shop\/zerocostfreehost\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/94418","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/new7.shop\/zerocostfreehost\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/new7.shop\/zerocostfreehost\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new7.shop\/zerocostfreehost\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new7.shop\/zerocostfreehost\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=94418"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/new7.shop\/zerocostfreehost\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/94418\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/new7.shop\/zerocostfreehost\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=94418"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new7.shop\/zerocostfreehost\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=94418"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new7.shop\/zerocostfreehost\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=94418"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}