A recent survey of 300 companies conducted by the UK manufacturer's association EEF and the accountancy firm BDO claims that one in seven UK-based manufacturers have returned production to the UK from overseas locations in the past two years.

The main reasons given include shoddy quality, longer transit times, the falling value of the British pound, and rising production costs and freight rates.

While good news for UK employment, it is bad news for ocean carriers, particularly liner shipping companies who still have about 11% of their combined containership fleet laid-up.

But the news may not be that bad for ocean carriers as the report does not attempt to quantify what effect the change has had on cargo volumes - for example, were the companies that changed their offshoring strategy big or small, and a proportion of offshoring moves usually goes wrong for commercial reasons that have nothing to do quality or cost.

Moreover, the need to cut costs remains as strong as ever, and countries such as China still have a much lower cost base. Manufacturing businesses set up in Asia are also much better placed to serve the fast expanding Asian market.