ABSTRACT
For most shipping investors forecasting is not optional. It is how they earn their living. Whether it is an investment decision like ordering a ship, or deciding which charter to take, the better they anticipate the future, the more profit they make. In fact if they cannot do that, what is the point? But it is not just shipowners who are in the forecasting business. Bankers lending money, shipyards developing designs, engineering companies selling equipment, rating agencies calculating the risk of default on a bond and ports developing their facilities will all be more successful if they can predict the future better than their competitors.
