[Vince Ferrer]

Shipping has recovered strongly since the depths of the recession, but there is an unknown portion of that which was simply rebuilding inventories expecting a green shoots/ "V" shaped recovery. I would expect come Christmas, with the economy not doing better and of course jobs not improving, that shipping will return to an "L" shaped recovery mode.

Long term, the currency wars and rising protectionism feelings does nothing to help shipping. Shipping companies have largely felt immune from these forces, as they feel they can reallocate ships to whatever area of the world that is doing well. That theory is going to continue to be tested in the near future, as all areas are hurting simultaneously.

[Vigilanteman]

There was a time that surplus in ocean shipping capacity led to rate cuts in order to keep the vessels running mostly full.

Now, it just leads to more capacity being idled so the shipping lines can charge more for the diminishing capacity which is available.

I've been involved in the business for more than 20 years and have never seen shipping capacity this tight. It is not just containers which are being idled, but entire vessels.

Everybody wants to get out of the risk of actually producing a good or service and more into sure things like crony capitalism and suckling the government teat. We won't have a full economic recovery until that mindset changes.