LONDON: In 1Q22, the supportive macroeconomic environment, which was backed by the strong consumer demand, was challenged suddenly by the war between Russia and Ukraine. Initially, liner stocks were resilient given the marginal contribution of both Russia and Ukraine to the world’s international trade, but soon this started to feed into energy prices, as Russia is a major energy exporter, pushing the already elevated inflation in major economies to multi-decade highs. To rein in inflation, 

central banks of major economies hiked interest rates, prompting speculation that aggressive monetary policy tightening could tip the world’s economy into the recession. Consequently, equity markets dipped worldwide and liner stocks were no different. The Drewry container equity index snapped its three-year long winning streak in 1H22. 

On a YTD basis (ending 28 June 2022), the index posted a decline of 23.1% 

(vs 2021: +127.7%, 2020: +79% and 2019: 36.2%).

Drewry container equity index is a market capitalisation weighted index of 12 companies including 

AP Moeller-Maersk A/S, 

Hapag Lloyd AG, Orient Overseas (International) Ltd, Evergreen Marine Corp Taiwan Ltd, Wan Hai Lines Ltd, Yang Ming Marine Transport Corp, HMM Co Ltd, Regional Container Lines, 

COSCO Shipping Holdings Co Ltd, SITC International Holdings Co Ltd, Matson Inc and Samudera Shipping Line Ltd.