THE shipping industry in 2015 will need to adopt a can-do attitude to successfully meet the challenges likely to come its way, according to the shipping partner of accountant and consultant Moore Stephens, Richard Greiner.
He explained that shipping confidence started 2014 on a six-year high and ended it on a two-year low, adding that "it is difficult to predict with any certainty what the next 12 months will bring, beyond further uncertainty".
Mr Greiner said there are developments the industry cannot change in 2015, London's Tanker Operator reported.
These included the relentless march of regulation, which will assume still more onerous proportions with the inception of new regulations governing emissions control areas and a further step towards ratification of the ballast water management (BWT) convention.
However, the over tonnage problem is a major issue that needs to be changed. "Accelerated scrapping is needed, together with an acknowledgement that there are already too many ships on the market and that, absent some form of rationalization, freight rates will not pay the bills.
"One area where shipping can demonstrate that it knows the difference between what it can and cannot change is in its attitude to private equity.
"Does private equity not know what the rest of us know, or does it know something the rest of us do not? Rather than bemoaning the short-term commitment of private equity, shipping should be looking to tick the boxes which attract such investors," Mr Greiner added.
Operating costs will go up this year, along with the cost of regulation.
"There will be increased interest in risk management, without which there will be still more new building disputes of the type currently sitting on the desks of arbitrators, and more companies following the unhappy route into bankruptcy taken at the end of last year by OW Bunker.
"Shipping embarks on a new year with confidence in a fragile state. The industry is volatile, and will be looking for improved political stability and a stronger global economy," he said.
"The biggest danger may lie not in setting the targets too high and falling short, but in setting the targets too low and achieving them."
WORLD SHIPPING
19 January 2015 - 22:16
Shipping needs to be more positive to face 2015 challenges
THE shipping industry in 2015 will need to adopt a can-do attitude to successfully meet the challenges likely to come its way, according to the shipping partner of accountant and consultant Moore Stephens, Richard Greiner.
WORLD SHIPPING
19 January 2015 - 22:16
Shipping needs to be more positive to face 2015 challenges
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