Leading up to the market peak, shippers made the fatal error of buying the boom frenzy and ordering the construction of new ships. Once credit markets constricted it was too late for shippers to turn back. By 2009 the dime had been dropped, orders placed, payment promised, they saw a total a total collapse of freight rates; each battling the other for dwindling world wide business (see video)
Many traders believed QE would lift all boats (pun intended) and struggled over and over again to find a bottom in the Baltic Dry Index but to no avail. Wasn't China going to stockpile again? For years we had be "programmed" to that belief. Many simply did not comprehend the impact of world-wide tightening and slowdown, even in China. Voracious demand did not return and oversupply of vessels meant freight rates continued to see pressure even with the Feds money printing as new ships continued to be delivered.
Then finally, a glimmer of hope. Moodys projected that most new ships would b
