Ladies and Gentlemen,
We have made it – we left the depths of the crisis behind, yet we are still facing some of the consequences of this major disruption. 2010 was a year of two conflicting themes.
On the one hand, 2010 saw a strong recovery in world trade, accompanied by economic growth – albeit with significant regional differences, whereby Asia's exposed position and momentum were strengthened further. Equity markets around the world developed favourably, also fuelled by a glut of liquidity that benefited individual markets to differing extents.
The values of transport assets – ships, aircraft, rail rolling stocks – recovered, reflecting higher charter and leasing rates, amongst other factors. Orders for new assets were placed again in some transport segments, with a return of speculative buying being seen in a few cases.
Everything appears to be back to normal.
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