MSI comments on container shipping market outlook

How will uncertainty over US tariffs, ongoing Red Sea diversions, and continued fleet growth impact containers in the remaining months of the year?

Those are issues that the U-Freight Group’s ocean freight team ponders over on a daily basis, as do the many clients that use our portfolio of international ocean freight forwarding services for imports and exports, including LCL and FCL operations.

And it’s something that the Seatrade Maritime News website has tried to take stock of, with some commentary from experts Maritime Strategies International (MSI).

MSI says that it expects container trade growth to weaken going into next year driven by the USA.

On the supply side, it says that container ship fleet growth will slow in 2026, before substantially accelerating as we move beyond 2026 as orders place in the last 18 months start to be delivered.

For the remainder of 2025 MSI expects a weakening of the demand supply balance in the second half of the year and that will weigh on freight markets moving past the peak season.

MSI concludes that while there will be some respite on new deliveries in 2026 the accumulated volume of new tonnage will weigh on the market.

Even if there’s no resolution to the Red Sea crisis, it is still an industry facing potential oversupply, and MSI thinks we will face actual oversupply in practice.

The complete article can be read here:

https://www.seatrade-maritime.com/containers/container-shipping-market-outlook-for-h2-2025

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