Analysts worry that a lack of long-term cargo growth in the Arabian Gulf could result in large amounts of unused capacity at the competing ports of Jebel Ali in Dubai and Khalifa in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates.

For China-Europe rail shippers, there are precious few alternatives to the northern corridor that passes through Russia and Belarus and handles almost all the volume moved on the land bridge.

While the “spillover” container market that is driving up MPV rates and creating a capacity shortage will eventually dissipate, in the longer term a low orderbook could mean a capacity shortage, analyst Drewry says.

Maersk has shifted its call at Jawaharlal Nehru Port Trust (JNPT) on the India/Middle East–Mediterranean ME2 service to the PSA-operated BMCT after increasing vessel capacity on the loop to an average of 10,000 TEU.