Oversupply of ships and China slowdown send freight shipping prices to an all-time low

London

FREIGHT shipping prices have plummeted to a historic low, fuelled by a long-standing problem of too many ships and lower demand from China, but experts cautioned against seeing it as a warning on the global economy.

The Baltic Dry Index (BDI) - which tracks the cost of transporting dry commodities such as coal, iron ore and grain across 20 shipping routes - dropped last Wednesday to 509 points: its lowest level since the creation of the index in 1985.

There have never been more commodities transported by sea, but the sector has been plagued with a surplus of ships ordered in good times, while China has…