Shipping is not an asset game for investors. It is a highly regulated transport industry where quality of operation and therefore perseverance is, at the end of the day, the only way to profitable investments. Shipping is a capital intensive industry in which sale, purchase and financing decisions need to be programmed and organized well in advance. Lead times of 3 to 6 months are not unusual in secondhand market deals. Under the circumstances, any discussion dealing with shipping decisions should keep this time frame very much in mind.
Shipping is hostage to events orchestrated by others.
No investment plan includes provisions for a shipping crisis or economic depression scenario. If it did, no one would go out and do the business. Shipping is a cyclical industry influenced by the supply of ships and the demand for the transport of goods. In shipping there appear to be three cycles that interact. The more usual medium-term cyclicality is due to imbalances in supply and demand such a poor harvests, regional industrial slowdowns or newbuilding deliveries concentrated over a certain period.