Looking Ahead

摘要

Six months after the collapse of Lehman Brothers, the financial/economic crisis has worsened and for the time being it is hard to be an optimist. Despite the fact that governments are injecting trillions of dollars into the economies, we observe that the world economy continues to contract (measured by GDP), industrial production is falling in all major economies, trade is contracting and commodity prices remain weak (after a 50%+ decline last year). Massive orderbooks prevail for the three main segments (bulk, tank, container) and there is little, if any, light to spot at the end of the tunnel. One is tempted to round off this section right here and just state: Forget 2009 and hope for 2010!