Although we saw a slowdown in shipping activity during the initial stages of COVID, things have improved rapidly over the past few months. Pent-up demand for consumer goods in particular is being realized and supporting a rebound in activity, particularly across the core shipping assets we monitor. This is reflected in the chart on the left, which shows global port calls, now above 2019 levels. Of course, you cannot have ports without ships, and the international shipping industry is responsible for the carriage of around 90% of world trade. 

On the right, the top chart shows that earlier in the pandemic, idle containership capacity spiked, but has come down considerably since then. Additionally, the global orderbook as a share of the fleet is at the lowest in fifteen years, which suggests limited risk of new asset over-supply, which occurred after the financial crisis.