The Economist

It is not often that we can clearly identify distinct changes in economic realities but we can safely say that September 2008 was just such a critical time point.

Who would have guessed in mid 2007 that carriers would be laying upships, ship owners agreeing to charter rates that are as good as rockbottom and container freight rates at peppercorn levels?…

Franklin Roosevelt was quoted as saying: We have nothing to fearbut fear itself. That fear has struck hard globally. We areexperiencing the roller coaster world of the financial markets, theunwillingness of banks…

October 17th marks the end of the block exemption forliner shipping conferences in the European Union. The shippingcompanies will be forced to comply with anti trust laws in line withall other industries.

It used to be that recessions were linked to parachuting. Soft landings, hard landings, crash landings... The world is changing. Today there is not a day that passes without some new letter…

The shipping-related industry is suffering as it never has done before:ships are being laid up in record numbers, bulk companies are going under, shiporders are being cancelled or delayed, and profitability is…

The US ended 2007with the spectre of a recession hanging over it while Asia and Europewere riding on a high, expecting 2008 to be another year of growth andprosperity. The financial crisis…

The human mind is an interesting thing. It can recognise economicfacts, stare them in the face and then reach the conclusion thatreality is not based on what we see. 

During a recent visit to Egypt my attention was caught by the enthusiastic expansion plans for the Egyptian port sector, particularly on the Mediterranean coast.

The recent Coastlink Conference in Dublin was the focus of much discussion about the thorny subject of congestion – the problems and potential solutions. There was clearly a perception from the conference…

Economic theory and practice tells us that economies of scale have the potential to increase both consumer and producer welfare. Yet there are limits to the advantages that they can bring. 

Let me start with an apology. I just cannot get away from the subject of port congestion. The most recent problems have been caused by weather, labour relations (or rather the lack…

More labour trouble in Gioia Tauro to the extent that Contship Italia, the transhipment terminals operator, has issued threats about exiting the terminal. The visible cause of the problems is the newly…