Lloyd’s List reports that as broader stock-market concerns build around high tech valuations and a softening US economy, shipping shares appear to be moving on a different trajectory.
The article outlines how shipping-listed companies in several vessel segments have seen year-to-date (YTD) gains that significantly out-pace the broader market benchmark, while others have lagged. Lloyd’s List found that the SPDR ETF, tracking the S&P 500, was up around 15 % YTD.
Among shipping segments:
- Crude tanker stocks were up about 69 % YTD.
- Containership lessor stocks rose approximately 39 %.
- Dry bulk stocks advanced around 31 %.
- Product-tankers and gas-carrier stocks were also positive, up roughly 24 % and 20 % respectively.
- -By contrast, liner stocks declined by approximately 2 % and multi-segment shipping stocks rose around 10 %.
The article notes that these shipping-segment performances were measured by analysing US- and European-listed shipping equities with market caps above US $300 million from 31 December 2024 to 17 November 2025.
According to the analysis, the divergence appears to stem from the fact that shipping equities are more closely tracking freight-rate fundamentals, vessel utilisation, and charter-market conditions, rather than broader equity-market sentiment.
One example cited is the crude tanker sector: spot rates for a very large crude carrier from the Middle East Gulf to China recently approached US $125,000 per day — a level not seen since the pandemic-era storage boom.
Meanwhile, the container-liner sector is under pressure: order-books remain elevated, US import tariffs are weighing on demand, and spot container-freight rates are already low. The aggregated market capitalisation of major liner stocks reportedly fell by around US $1.1 billion between end-September and mid-November.
Lloyd’s List also highlights that trading vehicles such as the Breakwave dry-bulk ETF (BDRY) and crude-tanker ETF (BWET) have posted even larger gains — BDRY at about 44 % YTD and BWET up roughly 120 % YTD in forward‐freight-agreement exposure.
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Source: Lloyd’s List
