Shipping rates for sea-borne transportation of dry bulk slumped again this week, reaching near three year lows. And the market is unlikely to recover until after Chinese New Year on the 23 January, with lingering weather problems in Australia and Brazil slowing commodity world trade.
The Baltic Dry Index (BDI) was 926 on 18 January 2012 compared with 1552 last week, which is the lowest the shipping benchmark has been since 21 January 2009 Capesize, Panamax,...