The Baltic Exchange's main sea freight index, tracking rates for ships carrying dry bulk commodities, slid to an all-time low on Monday as sluggish cargo demand - especially from China - battered sentiment.

European container ports are unlikely to be able to maintain the strong growth rates of the past three decades, Fitch Ratings says.

The window to sell Western fuel oil to Asia is starting to close as demand for a limited fleet of supertankers to store cheap crude pushes freight rates to multi-month highs, shipping and trade sources said.

Attacks against small tankers off South East Asia's coasts caused a rise in global ship hijackings, up to 21 in 2014 from 12 in 2013, despite piracy at sea falling to its lowest level in eight years, the International Chamber of Commerce International Maritime Bureau (IMB) has revealed. Pirates took 442 crew members hostage, compared with 304 in 2013.

Asian liquefied natural gas prices are expected to fall by up to 30 percent in 2015, according to a survey of analysts and consultants, as the market enters a period of oversupply and the impact of lower oil prices kicks in.