Moody's: Shipping industry outlook 'negative'

Moody's offered a somewhat pessimistic outlook for the global shipping industry this week, citing overcapacity as contributing to its "negative" projection for the industry over the next 12 to 18 months.

Bloomberg quotes Moody’s analyst Marco Vetulli, as warning that dry bulk may weaken as new supply begins to lower freight rates. Roughly 80 percent of ordered dry bulk ships will be delivered over the next two years, the New York-based credit rating agency reports.

"Despite the increase in oil demand over the past 18 months, 2011 is likely to be another challenging year for the tanker segment," The Financial reports. "Moody's believes that there is unlikely to be a sustained recovery in this segment until the latter half of 2012, or even 2013, when supply and demand become more balanced."

The source added that despite recent surges in oil demand, shipping vessels are simply exceeding cargoes.

The industry may suffer from an oversupply of oil tankers until 2013, according to Bloomberg. However, Moody's expects supply chain disruptions stemming from the disaster in Japan to be short lived.

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