Container lines have done well during the global pandemic, but are they profiteering from the crisis and can anything be done to prevent more carrier-shipper animosity?

The coronavirus outbreak has disrupted global container supply chains and depressed the demand for vessels and boxes. It will lead to a contraction in the shipping container fleet and keep prices and lease rates under pressure in 2020.

The world is a very different place to when the last edition of Drewry’s Container Forecaster report was published in December. The only certainty is supply and demand volatility.

The short term impact of the coronavirus health crisis is a sharp hit to global container volumes and carrier earnings, but Drewry expects that the medium-term impact will be manageable provided the virus spread is contained.