The container sector is expected to take a healthy wallop this year as a result of the omnipresent coronavirus, according to forecasts.

Activity may contract by 5% in teu-miles and 4.9% in volumes amid downward revision to gross domestic product, latest projections by Clarksons Research Services show.

The Shanghai Containerized Freight Index and Clarksons Continership Charter Rate Index were down 15% and 10% respectively since the start of 2020.

Shipyard delays have caused newbuilding deliveries to fall 10%. Capacity is set to grow 2.7%, with scrubber retrofits expected to take up 2.8% of that growth.

Operating speed has slowed 1% through February from a year ago, but liners are still expected to redeliver chartered tonnage and expand their idling fleets, Clarksons said.

Main liner companies such as AP Moller-Maersk and Hapag-Lloyd should be "able to weather the storm" given their access to cash, credit and strong balance sheets, managing director of research Frode Mordekal said.

"Investors we talked to point to 2010 when trade came roaring back in most segments and provided strong equity performance, which could be a potential scenario and repeat in 2H20 and 2021, we argue," he wrote in a clients' note.

Hapag-Lloyd chief executive Rolf Habben Jansen on Friday said he expects the virus to have a 'significant effect' on boxship volumes through 2020.