baltic dry index, page-5

OzStinger, possibly. For the index to drop that precipitously, if there is NOT a glut of freighters coming onto the market it means that there is a lot less ore being shipped. Which is the only thing keeping Australia afloat atm. It should stabilise around the 800 to 1,000 mark: that being the level when it is cheaper to lay up craft than take the freight rates offered. At that level it again becomes meaningless, as you need to track lay-ups, and funnily enough major shipping cos. don't make announcements like "We have laid up half our fleet". So ore transportation could increase significantly before all ships are at work again and the index rises - or could decrease to zero and the BDI would stay around 800.