Asia's shipping sector faces rough waters in H2

While the latest International Monetary Fund forecasts for global Gross Domestic Product suggest that growth should accelerate from 3.1 percent in 2013 to 3.8 percent in 2014, which means there should be stronger container trade demand growth of 6 percent to 7 percent in 2014 and 2015, CIMB pointed out 6 percent to 7 percent annual trade growth is still weak relative to the double digits seen in the days before global financial crisis in 2008.

The outlook of freight rates will depend very much on the behavior of the individual liner companies. CIMB Research said that industry players will need to exercise collective discipline up to the extent of reducing capacity deployment on a global basis, instead of just relying on piecemeal sailing omissions to rise to the challenge.

Only if this happens can the sector hopefully expect more sustainable spot rate increases towards later this year and early next year, the CIMB said.

Among the doom and gloom, however, the forces of supply and demand appear to be more balanced for dry bulk segment, which may support the future rates in this segment.

The new build dry bulk tonnage is starting to slow appreciably. At the same time, demand for iron ore and coal shipments appears to be accelerating albeit off lower than trend levels.

For a long time seen as the "bad boy" of the broader shipping industry, dry bulk shipping market fundamentals stood out in stark contrast to its container liner peers during the last quarter.

The world's dry bulk fleet has only increased in size by 3 percent year-to-date, with demand for the cargoes of iron ore and steel from China expanding at a far more rapid pace stimulated by the lower price of imported ore and the China's very low port-head stockpiles.

Hence, Credit Suisse Research believed that the market is underestimating the improved performances expected to characterize most of the dry bulk shipping companies later this year.