The extreme conditions of sky-high rates and queues of ships forming outside world ports were a prominent theme for the shipping industry in 2021 and are expected to remain so for some time.

This is also reflected in the most popular stories on ShippingWatch.com throughout the year.

The blockage of the Suez Canal by vessel Ever Given in March created a huge ripple effect on world trade, and was a popular topic among ShippingWatch readers.

Readers were also interested in the acquisitions within logistics – not least the potential sale of DB Schenker, which DSV Chief Financial Officer, now Group COO Jens Lund spoke to ShippingWatch about in an interview, while analysts speculated about Maersk as a potential buyer.

CMA CGM's establishment of a new air cargo division, the corona pandemic and the predictions for a normalization of world trade were other topics that caught the attention of ShippingWatch.com's readers.

ShippingWatch.com's most-read stories of 2021:

1. DSV announces DB Schenker as potential acquisition candidate 
2. DB Schenker is a "once in a lifetime" opportunity – but the timing is off for DSV
3. DSV Panalpina rumored to show interest in buying DB Schenker
4. DSV Panalpina acquires Global Integrated Logistics business from Agility
5. Suez Canal blocked by ultra-large container ship in both directions 
6. Container market risks chaos into 2022 following Covid-19 outbreak in China 
7. DB Schenker warns container lines against entering logistics
8. Analysts view Maersk and DSV as obvious buyers of German DB Schenker 
9. DB Schenker rejects DSV comments in an internal memo: No grounds for a hostile takeover 
10. 376 container vessels queuing off ports around the world
11. Major Chinese port closes container terminal as a worker tests positive for Covid-19
12. Grounded container ship causes delays for liner majors in Suez Canal
13. Customers predict container market normalization in 2022 at the earliest
14. CMA CGM buys planes and establishes new air cargo division 
15. Five years after taking over Søren Skou has only partially delivered on what he promised 
16. 2.7 million containers queued off the world's ports – Ningbo shutdown worsens bottlenecks
17. Maersk's position as world's largest is coming to an end
18. DSV exec after losing exclusive Vestas deal to Maersk: "Not the right deal for either of us" 
19. Bottleneck in Yantian port continues to grow despite partial reopening 
20. Former APL Chief Exec Lars Kastrup becomes new co-president of PIL