Shipping’s New Normal: Slower Trade, Higher Costs, Bigger Profits

By Lori-Ann LaRocco – It’s a good time to be an ocean carrier or tanker owner. The slower trade caused by bottlenecks stemming from the U.S. war with Iran, Russia’s war in Ukraine, and the Panama Canal’s El Niño water-mitigation measures has fueled soaring tanker profits and the never-ending surcharges imposed by ocean carriers.

“Disruption is no longer the exception,” said Richard Meade, editor-in-chief of Lloyd’s List. “It is becoming the business model over the past week. Shipping’s strongest markets are increasingly being shaped not by economics alone, but by geopolitics, security, and strategic uncertainty.”

Cashing in on uncertainty is nothing