Based on the aggregated intelligence of 180,000-plus investors participating in Motley Fool CAPS, the Fool's free investing community, the 10 stocks below are the highest rated in the shipping industry.

CAPS contains more than just the crowd's opinions. The votes of CAPS' best-performing members, known as All-Stars, count more in shaping each company's rating than do the picks of their poorer-performing peers. That way, the highest rated companies are not just the most popular companies in the industry, in this case DryShips (Nasdaq: DRYS) and Seaspan (NYSE: SSW), but are the best of the best. You can then intelligently use members' collective wisdom to make better decisions and find hidden gems you may never have otherwise heard of.

The shipping industry has been going through tough times as a supply glut has sunk the rates companies can charge their customers. While there are some pockets of profitable niches, overall the industry is struggling to stay alive.

The highest-rated shipping stock is ...
 Looking at the aggregate data, we see that our community rates Teekay Offshore Partners LP (NYSE: TOO) above the rest and for good reason. As CAPS player netscribeservcs wrote:

Teekay Offshore Partners L.P. is an international provider of marine transportation and storage services to the offshore oil industry. Teekay Offshore Partners owns 26% interest in Teekay Offshore Operating L.P., a Marshall Islands limited partnership with shuttle tankers, floating storage and offtake units, and conventional crude oil Aframax tankers. They also have rights to participate in certain floating production, storage and offloading opportunities involving Teekay Petrojarl ASA.

The offshore oil production will grow from 33% of global oil production in 2005 to approximately 37% by 2015, auguring well for the company. Also, Deepwater oil production from offshore production will increase from 12% in 2005 to 25% in 2015, which will increase demand for shuttle tankers and FPSO units compared to pipelines or fixed production platforms providing a bright opportunity for the company.

Here are the rest of the 10 highest-rated companies in the industry along with their CAPS rating:

 

Company

CAPS Rating (out of 5)

Market Cap (in millions)

1 Teekay Offshore Partners LP ***** $1,715
2 Teekay LNG Partners LP ***** $1,961
3 Alexander & Baldwin ***** $1,748
4 Navios Maritime Holdings (NYSE: NM) ***** $374
5 DHT Holdings (NYSE: DHT) ***** $80
6 Seaspan ***** $890
7 Diana Containerships ***** $120
8 Euroseas ***** $97
9 Capital Product Partners LP (Nasdaq: CPLP) ***** $446
10 Diana Shipping (NYSE: DSX) **** $679

Source: Motley Fool CAPS, as of Nov. 7.

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