If you want to track economic activity, you can look at shipping demand. Pallet manufacturing in the U.S. used to be a primary indicator of economic health. As distributors ordered more goods from manufacturers, new pallets of goods would be loaded into tractor trailers for shipment. When the pallet manufacturing went down, you could expect a slowdown in shipments.
As the global manufacturing model became more predominant, the shipping container traffic provided a better view of economic health. International shippers are in trouble. Margins are at bare bones levels. Banks no longer want to finance ships. Demand out of the U.S. is down 7%. The oldest shipping line in the world went into liquidation last week. Now where is that recovery everyone’s been talking about?