Shipping shows surprising optimism

JUST as the world was getting used to relatively gloomy news about China's economic growth, international accountant and shipping adviser Moore Stephens was carrying out its regular Shipping Confidence Survey.

So surely responses would reflect a strongly pessimistic outlook. Wrong! As it happens, the firm has just reported that overall confidence levels rose in the three months to August to their highest level this year.

Apparently, the average confidence level expressed last month by respondents in the markets in which they operate was 5.9 on a scale of one (low) to 10 (high). This compares to the 5.3 recorded in May 2015, which equalled the lowest figure recorded in the life of the survey, launched in May 2008 with a confidence rating of 6.8.