Interconnected issues of energy security and costs, climate change and environmental sustainability are “perhaps the most unsettling” of the changes facing shipping companies, according to the 2013 United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (Unctad) Review of Maritime Transport. It rates these challenges above profitability, even though the low freight rates that prevailed in 2012 reduced carriers’ earnings “close to, and even below, operating costs, especially when bunker oil prices remained both high and volatile”. Carriers applied various strategies to save costs, in particular by taking steps to reduce fuel consumption. Rates remained under pressure despite the fact that in 2012, for the first time in over a decade, the number of ships entering into service declined from the total of the previous year. The largest cycle of ship building in history – the cargo capacity of the world fleet more than doubled between 2001 and January 2013 – “finally began to slow,” while world tonnage capacity continued to climb in 2012. Based on Unctad’s Liner Shipping Connectivity Index (LSCI), the average number of carriers per country has decreased by 27% over the past decade, from 22 in 2004 to 16 in early 2013. Volumes are being driven by rising domestic demand in China and increased intra- Asian and South–South trade. International seaborne volumes increased 4.3%, reaching a record 9.2 billion tons in 2012. World container port throughput increased by an estimated 3.8%, to 601.8 million TEUs. INSERT Low freight rates in 2012 reduced carriers’ earnings close to, and even below, operating costs. INSERT 9.2bn International seaborne tons in 2012.
