At an industry event held on February 21, Zhang Yanyi, chairman of Evergreen Shipping, and Zheng Zhenmao, chairman of Yang Ming Shipping, gave an outlook on the market prospects.

    Zhang Yanyi said that since the outbreak of the Red Sea crisis, although freight rates have continued to rise, this is only a temporary phenomenon, and it is impossible to predict how long freight rates will rise.

    Zhang Yanyi also believes that this year, the shipping industry will still face three major challenges: economic downturn, collapse in freight rates, and excess space. In particular, the decline in freight rates has far exceeded expectations, and even reached the "stage of losing money", and the performance of enterprises has also fallen sharply.

    He also stressed that the main challenge facing the current market is the excess space, because the freight is determined by supply and demand, and once the space is surplus, the freight rate is unlikely to rise. In order to respond to market changes, most liner companies will adjust according to supply and demand, including the implementation of port skipping, suspension of sailings and other measures.

    It is worth noting that despite the loss of some liner companies in 2023, Evergreen Marine still maintained profitability and announced four major investments earlier this month, including the acquisition of a 100% stake in Italian shipping company Italia Marittima S.p.A., a 5% stake in the South Asia Terminal of the Port of Colombo in Sri Lanka, a 5.84% stake in the Taipei Port Container Terminal Company, and the purchase of an office building in London, England.

    Zheng Zhenmao, chairman of Yang Ming Shipping, believes that the Red Sea crisis shows no signs of cooling down, and the shipping company will detour the Cape of Good Hope for a period of time. At present, Yang Ming's fleet does not have a shortage of capacity, but due to the need for more vessel operations, capacity adjustment will be carried out.

    "We can only respond cautiously to the Red Sea crisis," Zheng said. ”

    He stressed that the shipping company should still avoid the Red Sea area in the short term, detour the Cape of Good Hope, and make proper arrangements for the increase in costs caused by the detour. At the same time, because it is impossible to predict how long the Red Sea crisis will last, the bypass measures will continue.