The new year is not off to a great start for the dry bulk shipping industry as the Baltic Dry Index (BDI) reaches new all-time low.
BDI dropped by five points on Tuesday reaching its lowest level yet of 468 points since its previous record low of 471 points posted in December last year.
Capesize index was also down by 10 points settling at 462 followed by Supramax index which also experienced a decline of four points ending at 445 points. Only the Panamax index managed to stay afloat with 2 point increase reaching 466 points.
2016 is expected to be yet another challenging year, especially for dry bulk shipping seeing that China’s market conditions are not yet improving keeping the demand trends flat in an already oversupplied market.
However, such market conditions should result in record level of scrapping of older tonnage in the sector, as indicated by BIMCO, keeping the supply-side growth at around 2% (2.6% in 2015E).
World Maritime News Staff