Container shipping will face weak demand during the recent years, according to a survey of The Boston Consulting Group. The experts consider that shipping companies need to use new approaches to increase performance and to optimize operations to keep the liquidity. Despite the fact that the rate of global container traffic growth in the period 2015-2020 might increase from 2.2% to 3.8% per year, the gap between supply and demand will also continue to grow in range of 8.3-13.8%. The global economy delay and uncertainty on the trade markets continue to have a negative effect over the container shipping, while the overcapacity on the market only worsen the situation.

The analysts from The Boston Consulting Group consider that container carriers should use new strategies to improve the conditions in the “New Normal In Global Trade and Container Shipping”, which is characterized by a slowdown in demand for container shipping. Among these new strategies are volume growth, as a result of mergers, lower costs, more efficient use of the fleet, combined route network optimization and modernization of the agency network.

The global macroeconomic factors, such as a reduction in the rate of GDP growth and the global economy delay, had a marked effect in reducing the volume of trades and exports from Asia. This already affected a lot of companies, as even the largest carriers are suffering from loss and liquidity issues.