The shipping industry is in for three tough years!

Berlin (Reuters) - The container shipping industry is expected to struggle over the next three years as demand for shipping services grows more slowly than existing capacity, Rolf Habben Jansen, chief executive of German shipping company Hapag Lloyd, told the German newspaper Welt am Sonntag.

Still, Jansen doesn't think the downturn in shipping will be as severe as it was after the 2008 global financial crisis, when new capacity accounted for 55 percent of existing fleet capacity. Now, that figure is just 27 percent.

Freight rates were down about 60 per cent year on year, he added. "The container shipping industry has always been a cyclical industry," he told the newspaper. "However, I don't think it will be as bad as 2008 and 2009."

Hapag-lloyd's official website issued an announcement on the 13th that the operating situation in Israel remained relatively stable. For Ashdod and Haifa, the ports have imposed restrictions on the reception of dangerous goods, so Hapag-Lloyd is no longer accepting bookings for dangerous goods to and from Ashdod and Haifa.