For more than two decades, container shipping guru Paul Dowell has been the go-to man at Howe Robinson Partners for those seeking views on the container shipping market.

But not for much longer. Dowell will step down in August from the role he has held for 22 years as head of the container research desk of the London-based brokerage.

He is doing so in the belief that the container shipping industry has “unlearned” many of the hard lessons over the years.