Shipping Confidence Pushes to New Three-Year High: Moore Stephens

Moore Stephens says shipping confidence reached its highest rating in the past three years. File Image / Pixabay

Moore Stephens UK (Moore Stephens) says shipping confidence reached its highest rating in the past three years during the three months ending August 2017, with the average confidence level up to 6.2 out of 10.00 from 6.1 in the previous survey in May 2017.

"Another three months, and another rise in confidence in the shipping industry, albeit a small one," said Richard Greiner, Partner for Shipping & Transport at Moore Stephens.

"Confidence has been increasing steadily over the past 15 months, and industry players are more confident of making a major investment over the coming year than they have been at any time in the past three years. Moreover, net sentiment in all three main tonnage categories is positive, having almost doubled in the tanker sector over the past quarter."

The shipping confidence rating improvement is largely attributed to increased confidence on the part of owners, which was up from 6.1 to 6.5 during the survey period.

Broker confidence levels during the period declined from 6.4 to 6.3, while managers and charterers recorded drops from 6.2 to 5.8 and from 6.4 to 4.7, respectively - the lowest levels for both segments since May 2016.

In Asia confidence levels reached their highest levels since May 2014, increasing from 5.6 to 6.4, while levels in Europe increased from 6.2 to 6.3, and North American confidence dropped from 6.4 to 5.8.

"This welcome boost in confidence comes at a difficult time for the industry, beset by overtonnaging in many trades, the current and impending cost of regulatory compliance, and more widely by geo-political pressures," said Greiner.

"Clearly, shipping still has a lot to offer existing and new investors alike, both traditional and external."