Shipping stocks at a crossroads amid their best rally in decades

A Mediterranean Shipping Company (MSC) container ship sails off the southeastern Mediterranean coast of France in Marseille on April 7, 2026. (Photo by Thibaud MORITZ / AFP via Getty Images)Thibaud Moritz | Afp | Getty ImagesA months-long crisis in the Strait of Hormuz has turned an overlooked corner of the market into one of 2026's hottest trades, sending shipping stocks to their highest levels in more than a decade.A basket of 35 U.S.- and European-listed shipping stocks tracked by Lloyd's List Intelligence has climbed about 68% this year, more than five times the S&P 500's gain, and 82% over the past 12 months. Crude-tanker stocks have led the rally, up 120% year-to-date, followed by car carriers, gas carriers and dry-bulk shippers, Lloyd's data show. "Shipping provides a form of hedge to geopolitical instability," said Andreas Povlsen, managing director at Hayfin Capital Management. He noted that freight markets have benefited from volatility, including the Covid-19 pandemic, Houthi attacks in the Red Sea, and Russia's invasion of Ukraine. Investors have already been piling into the long-overshadowed maritime sector to gain exposure to downstream commodity supply chains and...