Improved global economic conditions and an influx of investment cash will make 2011 "a good year" for shipping, reckons Cosco boss Wei Jiafu.

Renewed confidence in markets is likely to make the fourth quarter a peak period for liner companies, the Cosco Holdings Chairman told Bloomberg.

"Next year will be a good year," Wei told the news wire while attending the World Economic Forum in Tianjin.

Key to the expected growth in shipping markets is the return of confidence amongst consumers and producers alike in the US and European economies which have been slower to recover from the financial meltdown at the end of 2008.

"People have money but they have been reluctant to spend it," Wei said to Bloomberg. "Now, everyone will think it's a good time to invest."

A key indicator of the health of global trade is the fortunes of liner giants. In August Cosco rival AP Moller-Maersk announced it had banked a net profit of $2.52bn in the first six months of the year due to a stronger than expected recovery in container shipping rates and a rising oil price.

Having smashed its own forecast for the first six months of the year, the Dane said it expected full-year profit to break the $4bn barrier. The figure would eclipse the $3.5bn profit posted in 2008 and would go some way to making up for a disastrous 2009 for all liner companies.

Dry-bulk markets have also rebounded in 2010, largely on the back of China's continued appetite for coal and iron ore.