MOST US-listed shipping shares hit their peak in May. At that time, they were dramatically outperforming the SPDR exchange-traded fund that tracks the S&P 500, a proxy for the broader stock market.

The gap has now narrowed considerably, with several shipping stocks still outpacing SPDR and others falling behind.

Now that the dust has settled after the early August sell-off, here is a look at how US-listed shipping equities are faring in terms of the year-to-date (YTD) change in their adjusted closing prices through Friday:

Crude and product tankers

Among the larger-market-cap tanker owners, crude tanker giant Frontline and product tanker owner Torm are in the lead, up 30% and 28% YTD, respectively. Both have rebounded strongly from the early August drop.

In comparison, the SPDR S&P 500 ETF is up 18% YTD.

Scorpio Tankers and DHT are just above the SPDR ETF benchmark. Teekay Tankers and International Seaways are slightly below it.

Midsized tanker owner Teekay has seen a significant fall since its spring peak. Its adjusted share price is down 21% from May 27 and back to levels seen in late January.

Container liners and containership lessors

The biggest surprise of 2024 has been the performance of container shipping stocks, which were resuscitated by Houthi attacks in the Red Sea and resultant route diversions around the Cape of Good Hope.

Container shipping stocks fared better than bulk commodity shipping stocks during the early August sell-off.

As of Friday, the share price of Zim was up 72% YTD, although this large percentage gain was off a very low base in early January. Shares of containership lessor Global Ship Lease (GSL) were up 40% YTD.

Niche container line operator Matson was up 17%, just below the S&P 500 ETF. However, from a longer-term perspective, Matson’s equity performance has been particularly impressive. The company’s shares are now trading above levels seen during the pandemic boom. The stock hit the highest level in its history on August 2, in the middle of the global stock sell-off.

The YTD performance of containership lessor Danaos (which also owns bulkers) is lagging the pack, up only 13% through Friday.

Dry bulk shipping

Shares of dry bulk carrier owners were significantly outperforming SPDR in May but had a particularly rough month in July, followed by the sell-off earlier this month.

Their YTD performance versus the broader market is now a mixed bag. Dry bulk spot rates are unexciting, and not providing a catalyst for the stocks.

Among the larger market cap owners, Golden Ocean is in the lead, up 31% YTD. Safe Bulkers is up 28%.

By contrast, shares of Genco Shipping & Trading have fallen behind the pace of SPDR, up only 13% versus the January 2 adjusted close, while Star Bulk is up just 6%.

Star Bulk recently merged with Eagle Bulk and has the largest market cap of any US-listed dry bulk owner. Its greater scale has yet to pay off for its equity. Its share price is now down 20% from the 2024 peak reached on May 30. On Friday, its shares were back to early January levels.

LPG and LNG shipping

Equities of liquefied petroleum gas and liquefied natural gas carrier owners have fared worse than other segments since January.

The only US-listed gas shipping stock keeping pace with SPDR is very large gas carrier owner BW LPG, up 18% YTD. The only other stock in the segment in positive territory for the year is Navigator Gas, which operates smaller LPG carriers, up only 6%.

Shares of LNG carrier owners CoolCo and Flex LNG are down 3% and 4% YTD, respectively.

Ironically, the gas carrier equity with the worst performance YTD is VLGC owner Dorian LPG, which was the best performing US-listed stock in any shipping segment in previous years. Its share price Friday was down 5% from the adjusted close on January 2.

Since its follow-on equity offering on June 5, Dorian’s share price has dropped 22%. Investors who bought into that offering paid $44.50 per share. The stock closed Friday at $38.41 — 14% below the offering price.