Maritime Equities and the Middle East conflict in International Shipping News 09/03/2026 The start of the US-Iran conflict and its impact on the maritime industry suggest that geopolitical concerns are here to stay. In this thought piece, we decode the initial impact of this conflict on maritime equities. Taking a bird’s eye view, the Drewry Container Shipping Equity indices are the only indices in our coverage universe that have increased (5 March close vs 27 February close) as container carriers are benefiting from the current disruption in the supply–demand balance. Other Drewry Sectoral Equity indices have fallen, suggesting that the market perceives a negative short-term impact due to trade disruptions. Port sector: From tailwind to headwind – What the Iran conflict means for port equities? Last week’s coordinated US-Israeli strikes on Iran triggered sharp reactions as the DPEI dropped 2.9% since then. However, the sell-off was not uniform, highlighting the impact of companies’ idiosyncratic factors rather than solely the broader market meltdown story. For instance, in USD terms, AD Ports was down 10.6% as the company’s major assets lie in Abu Dhabi, effectively at the doorstep of the Strait of Hormuz. Hence, any sustained closure of that waterway hits its volumes first and hardest. COSCO SHIPPING Ports shed 1.5%, caught in the wider risk-off move. HPHT fell the most (-14.8%), but that is largely a Panama story rather than an Iran one. Panama seized CK Hutchison’s Balboa and Cristóbal terminals in late February and handed interim operations to APM Terminals, a move CK Hutchison has called unlawful. ICTSI, with no Gulf exposure, has barely moved (-0.8%). Container sector: Container equities rise as Iran conflict delays return to Red Sea The Iran conflict, which has dragged the entire Middle East into its orbit, has compelled liner operators to suspend any efforts to resume transits through the Red Sea. This development has had an immediate positive impact on container shipping equities as it effectively removed the risk of latent capacity entering the market and thereby disrupted the supply–demand balance. In addition, the conflict is expected to worsen port congestion, as vessels avoiding high-risk zones arrive at ports without prior scheduling. The resulting delays and operational bottlenecks are likely to absorb effective capacity, potentially exerting upwards pressure on spot rates across major trade lanes. Source: Drewry 2026-03-09 hellenicshippingnews... window.___gcfg = {lang: 'en-US'}; (function(w, d, s) { function go(){ var js, fjs = d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0], load = function(url, id) { if (d.getElementById(id)) {return;} js = d.createElement(s); js.src = url; js.id = id; fjs.parentNode.insertBefore(js, fjs); }; load('//connect.facebook.net/en/all.js#xfbml=1', 'fbjssdk'); load('https://apis.google.com/js/plusone.js', 'gplus1js'); load('//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js', 'tweetjs'); } if (w.addEventListener) { w.addEventListener("load", go, false); } else if (w.attachEvent) { w.attachEvent("onload",go); } }(window, document, 'script')); tweet Share