Comment / Hidden double-whammy risk weighs heavy on box lines

ID 48929148 © Romolo Tavani | Dreamstime.com

We enjoyed our appetiser concerning asset impairments earlier this month thanks to Israel’s ZIM in container shipping.

That could be a peculiar case given its heavily charter-skewed fleet, yet the signs of surging write-down risk are, among others, only partly concealed, as I pointed out in my recent AP Møller-Mærsk ’lost years’ analysis.

In the background, just as a dismal current fourth quarter jeopardises contract season for the carriers, the Danish box line’s smaller rival from Hamburg, Hapag-Lloyd, has been pretty clear ...