News
The Baltic and International Maritime Council (BIMCO) projects in a container market report that it has compiled that global container demand (movement) will grow 1.5% in 2023 and 5.5% in 2024 from the previous year in a container market report that it has compiled. It also anticipates the balance between supply and demand will continue to soften through 2024, exercising downward pressure on freight and charter rates and secondhand ship prices. The BIMCO foresees that container movement will decrease year on year in the first half of this year and turn upward in the second half, but that there will still be massive excessive demand over supply. It forecasts that container movement will grow strongly in the first quarter of next year, rebounding from sluggishness in the previous year, tightening the supply-demand balance. However, the council sees that growth in container movement will not be massive enough to make up for a remarkable shrinkage in the previous year, and that the market will remain under downward pressure throughout the years. The BIMCO estimates that demand for head-haul and regional services, a major factor behind ship demand and profitability, will decline year on year in the first half of 2023 but increase 1-2% on a full-year scale this year, a downward revision from the 3-4% increase made last time. Demand is expected to swell 5-6% in 2024, an upward revision of two percentage points from the last projection.
