Ships are moving at record slow pace in 2023 as demand falters and earnings take a hit + Russia’s experiencing a glut in containers

Bul k carriers + containerships moving at record slow pace this year: Two shipping segments experienced a significant decrease in their earnings this year and have opted to reduce the speed of their ships, shipping news agency Splash reported, citing data from Clarkson Research. Between January and August, the average speed of containerships fell 3% y-o-y, hitting a record low of 13.7 knots in February, and slightly rebounded to 13.9 knots in 3Q 2023, remaining below the lowest level on record prior to this year. Containerships have sailed on average 3.5% slower than in 2022 YTD, according to Bimco (pdf).

Bulk carriers have seen a 2% decline in speed from January to August, with Bimco analysis suggesting that lower freight rates and climate regulations are expected to result in a further 2-3% drop in dry bulk sailing speeds from 2022 to 2024.

Also an impact of lower demand: Containership supply is projected to grow 6% faster than the growth of the global fleet in 2023 due to reduced congestion, according to Bimco., with the supply anticipated to grow from 3% to 5% slower than the fleet in 2023 and 2024.

Strong Russian demand for Chinese goods is causing an excess of shipping containers that rail depots a re struggling to manage, Bloomberg writes, citing analysis by German-based trading platform Container xChange. The excess of some 150k shipping containers reflects a surge in demand for Chinese goods but scarce movement back to China, causing container prices to plummet. This has a “tremendously detrimental impact on the business of container logistics because of the high imbalance of demand and supply,” CEO of Container xChange Christian Roeloffs commented.

This has led to a collapse in the secondary market for containers in Moscow, which has seen costs of a regular 40 ft box falling to as little as USD 580 compared to USD 4k in February 2022, according to Container xChange.

In defense of the Suez Canal: The Suez Canal remains a dominant shipping route despite the emergence of alternative channels such as the India-MENA shipping corridor, Al Masry Al Youm reports. Alternative trade routes do not pose a threat to the Suez Canal as it remains more efficient in terms of time and cost, Egytrans CEO Abir Leheta is quoted as saying. The Suez Canal offers a straightforward, cost-efficient route in comparison to other posited corridors, which will require transfers to railway lines and multiple time-consuming loading and unloading processes.