Plunging into the abyss

摘要

Overcapacity, in part driven by those who gambled on the 2014 turnaround story, combined with a sharp drop in commodity prices and demand, to drive the Baltic Dry Index to its lowest level ever dropping to 509 points in February this compared to a previous all time low of 544 points in August 1986. The BDI only measures income and if costs the experienced by shipowners in 1986 are equated to the costs they have today it has been estimated that the previous low would equal 711 points. In other words, the all-time low this year is nearly 40% below that seen in 1986 in real terms.