Baltic Dry Index Slumps to Fresh All Time Low of 484

by Ship & Bunker News Team
Wednesday December 16, 2015

The Baltic Dry Index (BDI) Tuesday reached an all-time low of 484, falling 4.7 percent  - or 24 points - on the day to the lowest level since it was first published in 1985.

The decline was led by a 99 point fall in the Baltic Capesize Index.

Previously on November 20, the BDI hit a then all-time low of 498, but the metric proceeded to recover to 598 as of December 1.

The recovery was apparently short lived, and since that time has fallen steadily, with the data showing a 19 percent decline in December so far.

"A very significant oversupply of vessels, combined with slowing commodity demand, has kept the market under severe pressure despite owners' best efforts to manage their fleet through increased scrapping activity and no newbuild orders," Fotis Giannakoulis of Morgan Stanley was quoted as saying Tuesday.

"We expect the market to remain under pressure at least through 2017 as most of the large orderbook is delivered while seaborne demand is seeing only modest growth," Giannakoulis added.

Clarksons Platou Securities analyst Herman Hildan meanwhile noted that "It doesn't help that Chinese steel production is about to see the most dramatic decline to the lowest in 20 years."

“Demand growth is collapsing.”

In November, Ship & Bunker reported that analysts were predicting the slide in the BDI could signal problems in the global economy.

Ship & Bunker News Team
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