The fleet is growing at the slowest pace since 1999, and solid growth in demand means that the dry bulk shipping industry should be facing another year of improvement to the fundamental balance.
What a rebound. After the Baltic Dry Index (BDI) had its seasonal weakness around the Chinese New Year in early February, stronger-than-expected demand came from across the board and lifted freight rates. This brought earnings into profitable levels for a couple of days, as the BDI passed 1,282 on 27 March 2017.
The global production of steel dropped in 2015 compared to 2014, to a larger extent outside China, as China exported its surplus of steel to destinations across the globe; it is too complex to single out whether this is positive or negative for the seaborne dry bulk transport demand.
BIMCO's Chief Shipping Analyst, Peter Sand, in a video interview talking about the recently published "Road to Recovery" analysis of the dry bulk market.
The flooding in Queensland is primarily affecting the important coal export from Australia. Iron ore which is exported out of West Australia is not directly affected yet
Since the latest peak in Baltic Dry Index (BDI) on 10 September at 2,995 – dry bulk earnings have known only one way – and that is down. At the end of January.
The BIMCO Dry Bulk Cargo Network had its first successful meeting early this year. With issues ranging from the use of proper cargo names and identifying dangerous goods to the shipment of UN 3077 cargoes under the International Maritime Solid Bulk Cargoes (IMSBC) Code, the second meeting promises to be even more engaging for owner members.