By Nikos Nomikos, Ph.D., Professor of Shipping Risk Management, Faculty of Finance, Cass Business School, City, University of London, U.K. and Member of the JPMCC’s Research Council
As discussed at the JPMCC’s September 2016 Research Council meeting, the shipping industry plays an important role in the world economy since about 90% of the world trade is carried by sea. One of its sectors is the dry bulk market that involves the transportation of homogeneous bulk commodities, typically raw materials such as iron ore, grains, coking and thermal coal, bauxite and alumina, on non-scheduled routes, mainly on a ‘one ship-one cargo’ basis. The dry bulk sector is important in its own right, as it represents by far the largest shipping segment in terms of both cargo carrying capacity and quantity transported. This digest article describes the statistical properties of both dry-bulk shipping demand and supply and does so as well for shipping earnings and vessel prices.
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