Dry-Bulk Shipping Falls to Two-Year Low on Lack of Coal Cargoes
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The Baltic Dry Index, a measure of commodity-shipping costs, fell to the lowest level in almost two years after floods in Australia curbed coal shipments.
The index fell 18 points, or 1.3 percent, to 1,393 points, according to data from the Baltic Exchange in London. The gauge, which has risen once since Dec. 6 and has declined 36 percent between then and today, is at its lowest since Feb. 4, 2009. Australia’s Queensland state, source of about half the world’s seaborne coking coal to make steel, suffered the worst flooding in 50 years this month. That closed mines and railways.