Songa Container holds optimism for the coming year, despite ending the last three months of 2019 deeper in the red.

The Oslo-listed owner of 15 boxships plans to factor negative Covid-19 coronavirus impacts into future risk assessment but expects positive market forces to allow for a steady sector rebound.

"Impacts such as reduced vessel speeds and ships out of service for retrofitting, coupled with a historically low orderbook and stronger demand growth in the feeder segments than the container market as a whole, suggests a step-by-step recovery of the markets in which we operate," Songa said Friday in its fourth-quarter earnings report.