BDI Continues to Tumble

The Baltic Dry Index has hit a new low having plunged for another 14 points on Monday, January 11 tumbling down to 415 and thus continuing a rough year start for the dry bulk shipping market.

The new record low comes in less than a week since BDI dropped by five points reaching its lowest level yet of 468 points since its previous record low of 471 points posted in December last year.

Capesize index dropped by 29 points to 314, followed by Panamax index with 14 and Supramax index by 8 points.

Average spot rates also saw a decline with Capex rates plunging to USD 3,594 down by USD 224, Panamax rates down to USD, 3361 cut by USD 105 and Supramax rates down by USD 78 at USD 4,416.

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. The heavy seas in dry bulk shipping are likely to cause a new wave of bankruptcies especially for hardly hit Chinese ship owners.

World Maritime News Staff