Freight market remains subdued
After hitting a 25-year low of 647 on 3 February, the Baltic Dry Index (BDI) slowly recovered somewhat but in the past week or so the index has been bumping along the bottom. On 22 February 2012, the Baltic Dry Index (BDI) fell to 704 from 731 a week earlier on the back of sharply lower panamax rates. This year to date, the BDI is down 59% and lower global steel production and a bearish outlook for Chinese coal did little to improve the index over the past week.