Supply Chain Research

The global container line shipping sector had a challenging third quarter. While revenues climbed 15.5% compared to a year earlier for the top 12 companies that was largely down to volume growth rather than pricing. An expansion of volumes shipped will likely continue in the fourth quarter – for example U.S. seaborne volumes climbed 11.0% on a year earlier in October. The big problem for shipping companies has been fuel and other shipping costs which resulted in the sector’s average EBITDA margin dropping to 11.0% from 14.6% in the same period a year earlier. That equated to a 16.0% decl...