Container market to fall in 2009

Bloomberg has a lengthy article today on Maersk, commenting how much the container market will contract in 2009.

They are saying "may drop more than 10 percent in 2009".

I believe it will certainly drop more than 10 percent, maybe even more than 20 percent.

There has been continual expansion for more than a couple of decades, so this will be a real shock to most of the managers in international shipping companies.

The container industry, which transports manufactured goods by sea, is in its first year of contraction as consumers in Western economies rein in spending. The market has expanded by more than 10 percent most years since containerization went global in the 1970s. The worst year until now was 1982, with 4.6 percent growth, according to Drewry, which three months ago had predicting only a 5.3 percent contraction in volumes.

click here for article from Bloomberg