2014 ‘bleak’ for container carriers

    This year’s outlook for the container shipping industry is “bleak” and publicly-listed global container shipping companies “face a greater risk of financial distress, including possible bankruptcy, than at any time since 2010,” according to the global business-advisory firm AlixPartners, which Tuesday released a new study titled “Change on the Horizon: The 2014 Container Shipping Outlook.”
    The firm said the container industry’s problems stem from both sluggish demand as well as the “drive to build, fill and route ‘mega-ships’ – a drive that over the past decade has steadily increased leverage across the industry.” 
   The industry has an average EBITDA interest-coverage rate of just 4.9, less than half the rate it was in 2011 (10.8) and less than a third of what it was in 2010 (15.0)…