Just when shipowners were looking at the IMO 2020 fuel-cap mandate to provide a steady long-term lift to freight markets, Covid-19 threw the playbook out of the window.
Dry bulk and containership markets cratered, while tankers packed an expected two years of buoyant rates into two months of steroidal gains built on a global fuel glut.
For the short term, some public owners reconsidered the notion of paying quarterly dividends to their shareholders, opting instead to preserve precious cash on the balance sheet.
