Word: demand
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...global demand for Chinese toys, German cars and Japanese electronics has dived, container trade has been hit hard as well, with some 200 vessels now lying idle and many more likely to join them when their current contracts are complete. Container traffic between Asia and Europe is shrinking for the first time on record, according to some estimates. Shipping a container from Hong Kong to Rotterdam now costs just a few hundred dollars, down from more than $2,500 in late...
Shipping companies have been hit by a double whammy: falling global demand and, even more importantly, paralysis in the financial markets. The latter is crucial because the letters of credit that international trade relies on have all but dried up. Khalid Hashim, managing director of Precious Shipping in Bangkok, says government banking bailouts have overlooked the shipping industry's needs. "Trade finance is not getting enough attention within the banking system," Hashim says. "Governments don't recognize the danger signals coming up. It will take time to resolve...
Still, there are hints of good news. Rates charged by large coal and iron-ore carriers recently jumped by more than 50%, mostly because demand for Australian coal is rising again. The huge port of Newcastle on Australia's east coast is busier than it was even a few weeks ago. Could shipping have bottomed out already...
...answer will depend on how demand in China holds up over the next few months. But even if growth slows further, most of the biggest players in shipping are likely to survive. According to Oliviero Baccelli, a transportation economist at Bocconi University in Milan, that's because shippers have cut costs far faster and deeper than many of their counterparts in other industries. Shipping also enjoys a certain stability during tough times thanks to the enduring presence of family-run companies, and gradual consolidation over the past couple of decades has winnowed out the weak. "You have families who have...
...more than 100,000 patients in the U.S., their life depends on finding an organ to replace a damaged or diseased one. In the never-ending tug between organ supply and demand, the scales have never tipped in favor of the patient; only a fraction of the people needing a new kidney, liver or heart actually receive one. To move people off the organ-waiting list, doctors either have to boost the supply of donors, or improve the viability of existing organs...