Recession rule of thumb, number one: however grim it is in your industry, it’s worse in container shipping. Box carriers plying global trade routes spent the peak boom years in a state of delirium, buying up capacity without a thought for how costs would look when the cycle swung. The equivalent of 42 per cent of the existing box ship fleet is on order, at a time when the number of idle vessels has risen to a record 10.4 per cent of the total fleet.

Even if the idle tonnage has created some opportunities for new ventures such as the low-cost start-up Container Company – in which John Fredriksen looks set to invest – it has had a predictable effect on freight rates. This week Singapore’s Neptune Orient Lines, the fifth-largest carrier by capacity, reported its latest four-week figures, showing volumes slightly up on a year ago, but revenues per container 29 per cent lower.