In its latest Container Forecast, Drewry Shipping Consultants notes four container operators failed in 2008 and more could be casualties of the weak market in 2009.

During the last quarter of 2008, carriers have been doing their best to reduce capacity through suspension of a number of high profile east/west services, said the Drewry report. However, the gap between supply and demand is still too big, it continued. For the short to medium term, carriers can, at best, only stabilize freight rates that, on the Asia to Europe trade, have recently fallen to uncommercial levels.

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