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First, it has taught us in no uncertain way that boom is still followed by bust. The good times did roll for more or less everyone but now they have ended and we know whose fault it is! Second, we have seen the culpability and vulnerability of the banking system. Many bankers have turned from heroes to villains and it will be quite some time before respect is returned to them.

Third, what price now for the elastic financial models employed by many infrastructure funds – the absence of liquidity will be a major factor in changing the story here.

Fourth, in the UK we have a Prime Minister who for years in his role as Chancellor told us that “bust” was gone forever and that the UK was a land of stability as it had never been before. So much for that and one has to smile when you look at him in his new role as global saviour – will the tactic of spending your way out of recession work?

Fifth, once again we see the flawed logic of capacity expansion in container shipping – yes it is necessary to keep pace with demand but what price now for the tactic of expanding to either consolidate or expand market share? What will be the scale of the negative impact of floods of containership newbuildings coming onstream in 2009? It is already bad; how much worse will this make it and what will the impact be on the secondary trade routes as higher capacity vessels are shuffled down into them?

Sixth, terminals – there is the prospect of more coming on the market and significantly adding to resale activity. This is already highly visible in the decision by the ACS Group to put the Dragados portfolio of terminals on the market – around 30 of them. Lets be honest ACS needs the money, it has significant debt and forward commitments, and like others will be compelled to asset sell to manage its finances. Shipping lines are entities that have traditionally disposed of terminals in tough times; it will be interesting to see if this trend comes alive again or whether dedicated terminals are now seen by them as essential in a container system context.

Seventh, in the dry bulk markets, a short sharp period before the end of the boom time such as never been experienced before. The 1979-82 boom took some 18 months to wind down; the 1973-5 boom fell more quickly but it still took over a year. The 2006-2008 boom, however, took just five months to end, a new record.

Eighth, the slowing down of the take-up of new shipping activities such as Freight Forward Agreements – when the market is up, there is money to be made but when it goes down, as recent events have demonstrated, there is money to be lost.

Nine, that even in a downturn there are still boom time spots – witness Vietnam today.

Ten, the knowledge that democracy lives – the election of Barack Obama has to be seen as a major milestone in this respect and perhaps will breathe fresh life into a US that seems to have become somewhat stale in recent years.

And so as the last words in the last issue of Port Strategy for this year it only remains to wish you all a very merry festive period and a happy and prosperous New Year. Bonne chance!