All are waiting for 4th quarter final results to know whether to celebrate a recovery or hunker down for a depressed dry bulk market.

Political turmoil across the world combined with shaky economic realities has produced a less than stellar year for the dry bulk shipping industry. However, several factors, if fully realized in this last quarter of the year, could help to turn things around.

A number of negative factors weighed heavily on the dry bulk shipping market this year. The US experienced an unusually harsh winter while Europe enjoyed a mild one, resulting in significantly reduced east-bound shipments of coal. Indonesia’s new ban on unprocessed minerals was implemented in January, affecting shipping performance throughout the year. China saw one of its wettest summers on record, which allowed it to increase hydropower production but at the cost of coal imports. And, to compound the Chinese situation, new taxes designed to protect domestic coal miners went into effect this month, depressing coal imports. Continue reading →