Industry News

By Paris Tsirigotis

The container shipping market is entering a period of deep structural realignment as global trade gradually shifts away from traditional long-haul routes toward more flexible, regionally driven networks.

Changing supply chains, the rise of intra-regional trade flows, the energy transition and artificial intelligence are reshaping the sector’s opportunity set, while Greek investment in smaller vessel segments is gaining increasing momentum. The World Bank, in an analysis, sees the potential for a significantly more dynamic decade from 2030 onwards, provided that key growth drivers are activated, including deeper regional trade integration and AI-driven demand linked to the digital economy.

Structural trade shift

For the container shipping market, regional trade integration is seen as one of the most immediate drivers of change. According to analyses by Braemar and Linerlytica, the number of regional trade agreements has increased from around 300 in 2020 to nearly 400 today, now covering approximately 60% of global trade.

The development suggests that globalisation is not disappearing but is instead being reshaped. Rather than a system dominated by Asia-to-West shipping lanes, a more polycentric trade network is emerging. For container lines, this implies that future growth is likely to be driven increasingly by shorter-haul and regional routes, including intra-Asia, Mexico–U.S. and Eastern Europe–EU corridors.

Braemar describes this transition as a shift toward a more complex model in which more ports, more regional services and a larger number of smaller vessels will play a greater role in global trade flows.

At the same time, the energy transition and artificial intelligence are creating additional sources of demand for smaller container ships.

Investment in clean energy is boosting cargo flows of equipment such as solar panels and wind turbines, while emissions regulations are increasing operating costs and driving demand for more efficient vessels. The expansion of data centres and AI-related infrastructure is also supporting higher-value, shorter-haul cargo flows.

Greek investment trend

Against this backdrop, Greek shipowners have been positioning themselves over the past three years to capture emerging opportunities, with the feeder segment — vessels of up to 3,500 TEUs — becoming a key focus of investment amid growing regionalisation of trade networks.

The Greek-controlled orderbook continues to expand, vessel deliveries are ongoing, and second-hand acquisitions have also gained momentum.

According to data from Xclusiv Shipbrokers, the Greek container ship orderbook has risen to 194 vessels, representing around 12% of the global orderbook, with a strong focus on the feeder, handy and neo-Panamax segments and no exposure to very large container vessels (VLCS/ULCS).

In total, Greek interests have 103 smaller vessels on order, designed for regional trade operations.