South Korea's Eukor is expecting "substantial" drops in volume as a result of the pandemic.
The Wallenius Wilhelmsen (WW) car carrier subsidiary said in an update for clients that it expects disruptions continuing, with governments starting to explore how to wind down lockdown periods.
"It will take some time before we see vehicle producers re-opening their plants," it added.
"It is challenging to predict volumes to be lifted going forward, and we see that all customers’ are dropping their forecasts heavily, which will impact our normal trading patterns.
"This situation is hard for all of us, and while we are all working to adjust for the foreseen disruptions, we are in parallel planning for how to best serve you when we approach recovery phase and return to full operations."
All its regular ports of call and terminals are currently open and operational.
But it warned: "Based on the forecasts received from customers we see a substantial drop in volumes. As a result of this Eukor will move into a reduced sailing schedule mode to match volume forecasts, meaning less frequency and longer lead time."
The company is also seeing supply chain disturbances in the form of space constraints in many ports around the world and even stricter routines mean entering port may take more time than usual.
Most of its offices around the world continue to open.
Fearnley Securities said Kia/Hyundai has already lowered production numbers and reported further plant shutdowns in the coming weeks, suggesting the poor volume development is likely to continue.
"The news is largely echoing what has already been communicated by Wallenius Wilhelmsen, seeing a 20% drop in volumes in Q1 2020," it added.
"In our view, the impact of Covid-19 is most likely to cause another big hit on demand, most likely the greatest since the financial crisis."
Pressure on owners to continue
Looking ahead, it sees continued pressure on car carriers as policy actions to slow the pandemic are having a direct impact on consumer purchases, particularly for cars.
Assuming a 20% drop in volumes for 2020, the WW share is trading at eight to 10 times Ebitda.
"However, near-term uncertainty is expected to continue and longer-term fundamentals (which have already been weakening) are hinging on how the coming months play out," Fearnley said.
"With limited conviction that a sharp turnaround is near, we fail to see a compelling equity story over the coming months. Longer-term, there is obviously value here, but we remain sidelined until we have more comfort of a rebound in volumes."
Wallenius Wilhelmsen, a joint venture of Norway's Wilh Wilhelmsen and Sweden's Wallenius Lines, operates around 125 vessels servicing 15 trade routes to six continents.
Its markets have been heavily hit by coronavirus.
Last month, it said it was laying off half of its production workers in the US and Mexico over the economic impact of Covid-19.
A total of 2,500 workers will go in the two countries, but it could hire them back when business rebounds.
This was announced days after it cancelled two dividend payments, saving $60m, while scrapping four older ships, putting 10 more in lay-up and axing four scrubber installations in an effort to reduce capital expenditures.
It also named Torbjorn Wist as its incoming chief financial officer from 1 October. He is joining from Scandinavian Airlines, where he has been executive vice-president and head of finance.
