Bespoke Investment Group has an interesting chart on the Baltic Dry Index (BDI).
According to FT, the drop is due to an anticipated increase in the number of available ships through fresh deliveries.
The fall has brought average Capesize charter rates down from $32,889 on December 12 to $13,386 on Wednesday, below many owners’ total operating and financing costs.
Apart from that, iron ore shipments have fallen after a Brazilian company stopped shipping ore due to heavy rainfall, and Australia had trouble with loadings after a tropical cyclone.
Do any of the Indian shipowners – Varun Shipping, Essar Shipping and SCI – own dry ships? Will be interesting to find out.