The only way is up for shares in publically listed dry bulk shipping companies, according to one of the sector's few remaining equities analysts.
"We have never been more excited about what the opportunity is for equity values in shipping space over the next two years," said Amit Mehrotra, Deutsche Bank's lead transportation analyst, while chairing a Capital Link webinar on Tuesday.
"We think IMO 2020 is real; we've done tremendous work on it. We feel really good and we think these companies have been de-risked, from a balance sheet perspective, to really maximise operating leverage and minimise risk that comes from high financial leverage," he said.
This fresh optimism is something of a U-turn for the bank.
"We at Deutsche Bank have been relatively bearish over the past five or six years, during the whole dry bulk downturn and during the shipping downturn," Mehrotra admitted.
Macro picture
It's not just the companies themselves that are in better shape; it's the economic environment too, as Mehrotra observed earlier this month.
Dry bulk stocks made gains when the US and China called a ceasefire on trade tariffs as July began.
Meanwhile, the Dow Jones Industrial Average is at a five-year high and the Nikkei 225 and FTSE 100 indices are at strong levels too, which has also helped lift shipping equities, according to Deutsche Bank analysis.
Progress made so far
Dry bulk stocks have received a shot in the arm over the past 30 days, particularly over the past week.
New York-listed Safe Bulkers has seen the most dramatic gains.
Its share price has advanced by 42% since 10 June and just over half of this growth has been seen over the past five business days.
Scorpio Bulkers' stock price has seen 38% growth over the past month, of which 16% was seen since last Wednesday.
Golden Ocean Group has seen its share price grow by 34% over the 30-day period and Star Bulk has received a 30% boost.
Deutsche Bank's shipping equity research team has remained intact despite sweeping cuts at the German bank, as TradeWinds reported earlier this month.
In late June, JP Morgan became the sixth bank in recent months to fully or partly dump shipping coverage, following on from Credit Suisse, UBS, Seaport Global Securities, the Maxim Group and fellow bulge-bracket firm Morgan Stanley.
