Lunar New Year comes early this year. The biggest festival in the Chinese calendar sets its date by the first new moon of the lunar calendar and this year, that’s at the end of January. With the passing of the Year of the Dragon, we now enter the Year of the Snake.
As always at this time of year, Splash Extra has had a special consultation with our local Feng Shui Master to see if he can give us a forecast on what the year ahead holds for the shipping industry.
In the Chinese zodiac, the snake displays the characteristics of wisdom, strategic thinking and the ability to maintain composure in challenging and volatile situations. These are qualities every shipowner needs in their DNA, but it looks like these characteristics could well be needed more than ever in the next 12 months.
Our soothsayer suggests that volatility will be a hallmark of the snake year. His specific forecast was: “You may need to withstand critical moments during the year. Opportunity comes and goes in a short time. You have to take a risk when the time comes.” We sensed he was hedging his bets and by describing the every day lot of the shipowner in any given year he was not taking any undue risks which could come back to haunt him later.
Volatility will be a hallmark of the snake year
Accepting that he was politely saying to be prepared for plenty more volatility, we sought to get a better handle on the timescale and asked when was the best time to buy a ship. At least he did not tell us to avoid the S&P market altogether and his comment that summer time would be the most auspicious moment suggests he already has Geneva Dry in his diary and recommends making a move after we have all taken the market pulse in Switzerland at the end of April.
As regards where to avoid in the Year of the Snake, again our fortuneteller trod a conservative path. Discretion when trading to the Middle East and the North East was what he recommended, suggesting he feels that tensions in the Red Sea will persist even with the positive recent developments and he clearly feels a bit nervous about developments on the Korean peninsula and elsewhere in that part of the world..
Understandably, there is a lot of nervousness regarding the coming year in both Feng Shui circles and beyond. Traditional New Year greetings usually focus on wishing people prosperity and health for the year ahead. How should shipping folk position themselves to achieve these aims? Our expert’s advice on this was clear: “Use more red and purple colours as this will certainly enhance chi (life force) and reduce the negative energy.” Red and purple? There are quite a few shipping company house flags which feature these colours, and corrosion concealing paint of a reddish hue means there is plenty of red across the industry, so hopefully that is a good sign. It remains to be seen whether a red MAGA baseball cap and a red neck tie hanging below the waist will also meet the Feng Shui prerequisites for dispelling some of the negative vibes.
As millions of people across the globe unite with family and friends to celebrate Lunar New Year, here is hoping that the snake’s characteristics of wisdom and composure in the face of adversity bring you all a healthy, peaceful and prosperous year ahead. Gong Xi Fa Cai!
Energy News Beat