News / Container shipping demand may dip this year, but market balance still improving

Hanjin's Subic Bay shipbuilding facility

Container shipping demand growth is expected to be lower this year than last.

But, in its latest overview of the sector, shipping association BIMCO still expected it to be “high enough to potentially improve the fundamental market balance”.

BIMCO forecasts demand growth in 2018 of 4% to 4.5%, against a supply fleet growth of 3.9%.

This supply increase takes into account the “delivery flurry” last month, which added some 254,000 teu, or 1.2%, of capacity to the global fleet, equal to the entire fleet growth of 2016.

BIMCO ...