Q&A: COVID, the rise of China, and the future of ocean shipping

t’s getting really weird out there in the ocean shipping markets. Global oil demand collapses yet oil tanker rates spike. Tanker profits soar yet stock investors flee. Unemployment surges and businesses fold yet imports flood into ports and container rates skyrocket.

The COVID-19 pandemic has made the ever-confounding task of forecasting shipping markets more confounding still. For insight on what’s next, FreightWaves interviewed Peter Sand, chief shipping analyst at BIMCO. Sand, based in Copenhagen, is one of the industry’s most respected prognosticators. BIMCO is the world’s largest association of shipowners, charterers, shipbrokers and agents.