Shipping markets are in transition following a period of “exuberant over-ordering”, Simpson Spence Young (SSY) chairman Mark Richardson says.

In an interview for the latest issue of TradeWinds’ quarterly magazine, TW+, he said: “We’re in territory where some prudent, sensible management can actually get these markets back into healthy positions.”

Richardson, who is well into his first year in the hot seat at the broking shop, says SSY’s figures show that dry seaborne trade rose about 20% in the past five years to 4.3