"Cascading" has been lying low for a long time as yet another negative consequence of the overcapacity on Asia-Europe combined with the new mega ships inserted into the most important string in the world. According to Drewry, a massive amount of tonnage has been inserted on the string between Asia and the coast of South America in recent months, a result of the fact that the shipping companies are getting a surplus of ships on their hands. The problem is that there's isn't necessarily a market for the ships on the other strings, meaning that the extra ships cause even more overcapacity, thus pushing the rates down.