Mumbai — The world’s largest container shipping line, Maersk Line, says international freight rates are reversing after climbing for most of 2017, raising questions about the sustainability of the global trade recovery. Decade-old oversupply issues swamped demand for containerised sea trade in the third quarter, a senior official at Maersk Line said last week. More than 90% of trade is routed through ships, making the industry a bellwether for the worldwide economy. "We have started to see some pockets of downward pressure," said Steve Felder, the Mumbai-based MD of Maersk’s South Asian unit. The global trade order book at about 13.5% of capacity was not high, "however, given that freight rates are largely determined on the basis of supply-demand balance, they remain fragile", he said. The IMF forecasts growth in world trade volume will slow to 4% in 2018 from a projected 4.2% in 2017, though that is still higher than the seven-year low of 2.4% hit in 2016. Concern about US protecti...
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