Shipping’s crystal ball cracks in the 2020s

Shipping has long been treated as an early warning system for the world economy. In an era of wars, rerouting, services and AI, the relationship is becoming far harder to read. Splash investigates whether this old adage rings true still, or even if it ever did.

“In previous decades, it was certainly true that the shipping markets served as an early indicator of the strength of the global economy,” Adam Kent, managing director of UK consultancy Maritime Strategies International (MSI), tells Splash.

Dry bulk demand, Kent says, has historically provided an important guide to growth in emerging economies, most notably China this century, while containerised cargoes offered a proxy for Western consumer demand. Read more at Splash247.com