There will be a two-year disconnect between a rebound in the global economy and a recovery in the container shipping market, says Orient Overseas International Limited's (OOIL) chief financial officer, Mr Ken Cambie.

"We think the global economy has at least a two-year time frame before recovery. We think the container shipping industry will probably take a further two years after that to fully recover, simply because of the enormous amount of newbuild capacity that is scheduled to come into the market,"Mr Cambie told industry insiders during a recent teleconference arranged by JP Morgan in Hong Kong.

It is estimated that the global fleet will expand by roughly 10 to 12 per cent over the next three to four years, while demand is expected to grow only in the low single digits.

"Clearly there is going to be an overhang that will need to be absorbed," the OOIL executive said.