To say that a recovery of the shipping industry is on the horizon is unwarranted optimism, according to Glenn Delve, marketing director of shipping line, MSC. “My gut feeling is that a recovery is not really taking place at the moment,” he told FTW. “The trend in the market varies between f lat and marginally upward. But that depends on the trade.” In the SA context, Delve doesn’t see any upturn in exports because of the global recession. At the same time, he noted that the weak rand was also holding back imports. “The 7.5% growth rate in SA seafreight is still reasonable for a country to have. But there is no great increase in mineral exports from SA – a vital part of this country’s export trade. There’s a bit of an upturn in manganese, but it’s quite f lat in the others. “None of this indicates recovery.”
