Blowtorches Fail to Ignite Worst Ever Commodity Shipping Market
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How bad is the market for shipping commodities across the world’s oceans? Consider that more than 100 vessels will probably be scrapped this year -- a record -- and daily earnings for the industry will still tumble.
Having predicted as recently as February that shipping rates this year would jump, forecasters are turning increasingly bearish as China’s coal imports plunge and its iron ore buying expands at the slowest pace on record. The Asian country’s economy, which is the second-largest after the U.S., will expand the least in a generation in 2015, estimates compiled by Bloomberg show.