Shipping and Logistics

January 18, 2016
Shipping Update for January 2016
Written by Sandy Williams
On Tuesday, January 19, the Baltic Dry Index hit its lowest point ever, dropping to 363 points. The BDI tracks shipping rates for dry bulk cargos like iron ore, coal and grain and is considered a barometer for global steel trade. To put things in perspective, six months ago, on August 8, 2015, the Index was at 1,222 and has dropped 115 points so far in January of this year. The capesize, panamax, supramax, and handysize indices were at all-time lows on Tuesday.
The dry bulk sector has been hit hard by the Chinese slowdown while still struggling to get ship overcapacity under control. Cargo of iron ore and coal carried on 150,000 tonne capesize vessels has been especially impacted. Ship owners faced massive losses in 2015 as commodity prices collapsed taking along with them steel mills and mining companies.


