The Economist – Page 7

  • News

    The medicine that damages the patient

    2011-10-19T10:00:00Z

    It can be argued that too much belt tightening may not be a good thing: we can see a parallel with the fiscal measures used to fight excess debt at the sovereign levels.

  • Seagate Wuxi China Factory Tour Photo: Robert Scoble
    News

    The fiscal crisis has landed

    2011-08-17T18:01:00Z

    The global economy is entering a difficult period, the outcome of which we cannot guess at this stage.

  • The new 18,000 teu capacity Triple-E vessels will add to congestion even in the big Asian ports
    News

    An Asian dilemma

    2011-07-20T10:02:00Z

    Travelling around Asia opens the mind as there are events taking place here that introduce new issues, and these suggest we may not always have been looking in the right direction.

  • Terminal operations are seeking, once more, to define themselves
    News

    Re-inventing the wheel

    2011-06-22T10:00:00Z

    Terminal operators today are moving to re-define their role, to come up with an identity that clarifies what they do. At least that is the case in container terminals; bulk terminals have a more clearly defined role.

  • Rotterdam has begun screening ships from Japan for radiation contamination
    News

    Finding the right coping mechanisms

    2011-05-11T10:00:00Z

    The wider impact of the the Japanese tsunami and subsequent radiation leaks has broad repercussions for the shipping and ports industry.

  • Economists are expected to provide forecasts for months and years ahead
    News

    Caution counselled as uncertainty rules

    2011-03-30T10:00:00Z

    Our industry expects economists to provide forecasts for the months and years ahead, prognosticating about demand and supply as well as financial returns. We spout optimism and pessimism with equanimity, but often with a lag.

  • Economists, famed for their herd instincts, seem to have broken ranks
    News

    Promises of a good year

    2011-02-23T10:00:00Z

    Being an economist is not easy. We are expected to have an opinion on the state of the economy but are usually castigated for our views.

  • Will liner operators learn from the mistakes of the past?
    News

    Surviving 2010 not a panacea for 2011

    2011-01-12T20:47:00Z

    What a wonderful year 2010 was: the container shipping industry has survived and even those on the edge of oblivion managed to get pulled back.

  • The stocking fillers may be lacking this season
    News

    No Christmas stocking for box ports

    2010-12-22T10:00:00Z

    The liner industry has entered the slow season. Normally the peak season comes around late August through early October, but this year it came early in the July-August period.

  • News

    Fancy a Gamble?

    2010-11-10T10:00:00Z

    Hedging, OTC trading and Derivatives have arrived in the container market. Ben Hackett

  • The way forward remains uncertain and is littered with economic realities
    News

    The littered road to recovery

    2010-09-29T10:01:00Z

    The spectre of mass insolvency and bankruptcy appears to be behind us as the maritime industry roars to the end of 2010 with excellent financial results for the first half of the year.

  • Virtually every carrier has managed to get into the black by mid 2010, many of them spectacularly
    News

    The peak season enigma

    2010-08-25T10:02:00Z

    After over a year of a constant stream of depressing financial reporting from shipping lines terminal operators and port authorities we are finally seeing positive numbers being announced in the financial results.

  • Will debt reduction strategies put more hurdles in the way of ports' growth?
    News

    Creating hurdles, not solutions

    2010-08-11T10:00:00Z

    The latest G20 meeting resulted in a communique that endorses austerity and debt reduction.

  • Port Strategy: APM Terminals managed to increase profits when lines were suffering
    News

    Astute management could have repercussions

    2010-06-23T10:00:00Z

    The global container terminal operators reported profits in 2009 despite the shipping global recession and shipping calamity.

  • Port Strategy: Shippers and lines are still at loggerheads. Credit: DeWow
    News

    Trust and credibility still at stake

    2010-05-12T10:00:00Z

    One of the key issues to emerge at the 12th Global Liner Shipping conference in London was the continuing mistrust between shippers and carriers.

  • The industry needs to find the long view
    News

    Only the beginning of the end

    2010-04-07T10:00:00Z

    At the recent Journal of Commerce conference in Oakland (TPM) one of the major carrier’s chief executives suggested that the industry had not been ready for the boom in cargo and had had no pre warning.

  • Recent economic data has been contradictory
    News

    Growth marred by confusion

    2010-03-24T10:00:00Z

    The last two months have been interesting for economic analysts; data has been contradictory and has led to the lengthy debate on whether we are about to return into recession or are poised for solid growth.

  • The Economist
    News

    Winds of Change

    2009-12-16T12:24:00Z

    The shipping industry is entering a period of change; the impact of the economic crisis is creating changes that may alter the face of shipping for some years to come.

  • double dip
    News

    Are we in danger of a double dip recession?

    2009-10-30T12:24:00Z

    A recent US survey of eminent economists resulted in 80% of those surveyed believing that the recession was over. Yet we continue to hear warnings about the continuation of the recession with fears of a "W" double dip recession and the next negative phase of the financial crisis resulting from ...

  • News

    It's Over

    2009-10-14T12:24:00Z

    Let us consider the good news: exports from Europe to the Far East in the first half of the year compared with the second half of 2008 showed a volume increase of 5% according to the ELAA.