The specialised reefer fleet is shrinking and shows no signs of reversing in the future. However, the reefer containership fleet has increased by 15 percent year-on-year and is set to grow 20 percent by 2018, according to Drewry's latest Reefer Shipping Market Annual Review & Forecast.

Container equipment rental rates came under renewed pressure in 2014 and by mid-2015 new dry freight pricing was at a ten-year low, whilst lease rates had fallen to an all-time low, according to the latest edition of the Container Leasing report published by global shipping consultancy Drewry.

Low material costs and stable demand have driven the price of new container equipment down to record lows where it is forecast to stay, according to the latest edition of the Container Census report published by global shipping consultancy Drewry.

Shipping will require an additional 42,500 officers by the end of 2019 to cope with the expected growth in the main cargo carrying fleet, equivalent to 7 percent growth over the five-year period. But the persistent shortage of officer crew is receding, according to the latest Manning report published by global shipping consultancy Drewry.

Liner schedule reliability improved for the fourth consecutive month in May as the aggregate on-time performance for the three core East-West trades jumped by 4.0 percentage points to reach a new data-series high of 71.6 percent, according to Carrier Performance Insight, the online schedule reliability tool provided by Drewry Supply Chain Advisors.

Chemical shipping faces another tough year, but prospects are improving thanks to the strength of the product tanker market which is attracting a growing number of swing ships out of chemicals into products, according to the latest edition of the Chemical Forecaster, published by global shipping consultancy Drewry.

The volatility of global spot freight rates since the start of 2015 has continued to increase in comparison to 2014, according to rate assessments on 11 routes gathered by the World Container Index (WCI). Price turbulence on the globally important Asia-to-Europe routes has been particularly high in 2015 with monthly volatility increasing 43 percent on average in comparison to 2014.