Container shipping under strain as IMF cuts trade growth forecast

The container shipping market is faced with the adverse situation of a slowdown in trade volume growth for 2027.

The IMF’s October 2026 World Economic Outlook (WEO) report predicts a decline in world trade volume growth from 5.0% in 2025 to 4.7% in 2027.

In advanced economies, import demand is projected to be 5.0% in 2026 but soften to 4.2% in 2027.

“This means that demand is not growing fast enough to absorb all the newly built vessel capacity entering service,” said Denmark’s research and analysis specialist Sea‑Intelligence.

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