This tallies with industry expectations, Transport Intelligence said. Alphliner has reported that rival carriers have been quick to fill the gap in services Hanjin Shipping left behind; nine extra sailings were added in September, according to the consultancy, with another six scheduled for October.

Nonetheless, even the biggest carriers are feeling the heat. In an interview with Bloomberg at the end of September, the Chairman of A.P. Møller-Mærsk stated that the company "is done with ordering new steel," in the face of the systemic overcapacity issue.

With regards to air freight, the most recent cargo statistics from IATA show that volumes, as measured in FTKs, increased by 3.9 percent for the month of August.

It seems as though at least some are seeing positives in the current market, as continuing into October, the Air Freight Logistics Confidence Index saw a month on month gain of 0.6 points to 49.9, driven by a 1.6 point rise in the Present Index. It is nonetheless prudent to view such growth with caution, as advanced by the head of IATA, who stated: "the underlying market conditions make it difficult to have long-term optimism."

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