For a container shipping industry whose fortunes depend on ever greater globalisation, the coronavirus pandemic appears a particularly formidable foe.
Evidence of the disruption to world trade is stark: sailors are stranded on ships thanks to Covid-19 travel restrictions, while containers packed with everything from televisions to clothes have arrived in western ports from Asia just as consumer demand in Europe and the US evaporates.
There are echoes of the 2008-09 financial crisis that sent global trade volumes down more than 10 per cent, ushering in a period of brutal competition between major lines such as Denmark’s AP Moller-Maersk, China’s Cosco Shipping Lines, Germany’s Hapag-Lloyd and France’s CMA CGM. But a decade on, the early signs point to an industry that has so far done a better job of navigating the upheaval.