As the Eugen Maersk, one of the world’s largest container ships, sits at Tangier Container Terminal, on Morocco’s Mediterranean coast, it is easy to imagine that the world’s transport and logistics industry is in good health. The new port, built in the shadow of the Rif Mountains, is busy and the containers are stacked reasonably high on the vast vessel’s deck.

However, the ship’s bow betrays the problems that have shaken every form of freight transport since the world financial crisis set in last September. The ship, which is on a service from northern Europe to China, is riding high in the water. Nearly all the containers it is carrying back to Asia are empty. Most will wait far longer than they would have two years ago before returning full to Europe.