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2009 will not be a year that many in the container shipping industry look back on with a great deal of fondness. The global recession - the most severe to have been seen for a very long time - brought with it a prolonged negative effect on volumes across the globe.
The first signs of recession were apparent in the second half of 2008, and by the beginning of 2009 many trades were reporting volumes down by 20% or more. Such a crisis demanded action and HPUK, in common with a number of other businesses, took steps to trim costs.
Through a variety of measures, including voluntary redundancies, career breaks and reduced working hours, we were able to reduce our cost base. At the same time however, through a major focus on service delivery, the high standards enjoyed by our customers across HPUK’s three ports were maintained.
At the end of 2009, the first signs of stability gradually returned to the market and, whilst predicting the future is very difficult, and there remains a huge amount of uncertainty, we are hopeful that there will be a return to growth in 2010.
Nevertheless, whatever growth may - or may not - be forthcoming, in the next 12 months we are certain to see an increased number of ever larger container ships reaching the market. There are currently over 130 ships of over 12,000 TEU capacity on order in the world’s shipyards. A significant proportion of these will be deployed on the Europe-Asia trade, and many of them will seek to call in the UK.
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