UK-BASED international shipbroker and consultant Galbraith’s says the worldwide dry bulk freight market is set to grow at an average rate of 2.5 per cent until 2010, in line with demand but capacity will grow faster. Fleet capacity is likely to grow by 24 per cent over the same period, with a 7.2 per cent growth rate in 2006, declining slowly over the remainder of the period – amounts to a total growth of 80 million DWT.
Carrying capacity is set to increase by about 680 million tonnes, while scrapping is expected to remain at historically low levels throughout the forecast period.