An analysis of efficiency of the bulk shipping markets

This article discusses the market efficiency of bulk shipping fleets in both the short and long term perspectives. In the short term it demonstrates that shipowners are profit maximizers and that freight rates are equal to marginal cost, that evidencing allocative efficiency of resources. It assumes that the market is differentiated but the intra-marginal substitution takes place. While it is shown that the marginal cost functions of individual vessels, which are aggregated to provide the market supply schedule, are only unique for a specific voyage, provided the general pattern of trade remains more or less constant the supply function is likely to be relatively insensitive to individual changes in ships' MCs. In the long term it is argued that the market is far less efficient with many factors combining to prevent accurate matching of supply and demand for any but for a very short period of time. In recent years supply has exceeded demand by a considerable amount and it is concluded that finance for ships should be provided primarily from shipowners' accumulated reserves and that loan capital should finance a much smaller proportion of the costs of independent tonnage.     

Price and volume dynamics in second-hand dry bulk and tanker shipping markets

The relationship between trading volume, prices and return volatility is thoroughly investigated in different second-hand dry bulk and tanker market segments. The objective is to gain fruitful insight on the sale and purchase market dynamics, and the sensitivity of vessel price movements following the arrival of new information signals in the shipping markets. Contemporaneous relationships are identified between returns and volume, particularly in the markets of handysize and panamax bulks as well as of handysize and aframax tankers. Price changes are found to have an impact on trading volume indicating that expectations to higher capital gains induce increases in trading activity. Volume appears to have a negative impact on the volatility of price changes mainly in the dry bulk market; this may be due to thin trading, limited transaction transparency and absence of vessel price quotes. The empirical findings can contribute to a better understanding of shipping markets' microstructure and price volatility dynamics by market participants. This, in turn, can be useful for investors who construct their portfolios of real assets with a view to attain superior capital gains, controlling for the underlying investment risk.     

油轮和干散货市场未来运价分析

未来而言，考虑到供求因素，我们认为油轮市场2007年～2008年均将出现同比下滑，但下跌幅度有限。从2009年开始，单壳船的逐渐拆解将支持运价回升，同时，我们预计2007年下半年的油轮运价有望出现季节性反弹；对于干散货市场，基于目前的订单量以及相对较老的运力结构，我们认为2007年～2009年的供求状况将使得运价维持高位，但在2007年，由于一些需求的结构性因素使得BDI指数一路创新高，保守估计，若这些结构性因素在2008年得到缓和，可能会导致2008年运价相比2007年略微回落。     

Seasonality patterns in the container shipping freight rate market

Shipping indexes have attracted many researchers because they reflect the overall trend of corresponding seaborne markets and can provide implications for the future. Apart from the Baltic Dry Bulk Index (BDI) and correlated indices, the China Containerized Freight Index (CCFI) has been gaining more attention. As a country with large-scale manufacturing, China is an important exporting country and the CCFI was chosen to reflect the container shipping market because the data are more convincing and representative. There have been no systematic attempts to understand the seasonality patterns of container freights. Seasonality patterns reveal the regular fluctuation patterns within a 1-year period. They exist in time series, which are observed more than once a year, like the CCFI. To investigate the nature of seasonality (stochastic and/or deterministic) in container freight rates across different line services, we analyze the CCFI. This paper uses the HEGY method and Monte Carlo method comprehensively to figure out the small sample problem. In addition, seasonal dummy variables are used to test deterministic seasonality. Except for the Japan service series, which contains a half-year unit root, the other container freight rates seem to only involve a non-seasonal unit root at the zero frequency. Deterministic seasonality exists in all the line service series. Furthermore, the seasonality depends on the balance between supply and demand. Under this premise, the seasonal law of freight rates is much obvious.     

航运市场周期理论与当今干散货航运市场变化

2008年,国际干散货航运市场遭遇前所未有的“跳水式”下跌。波罗的海航运交易所干散货运价指数（BDI）从2008年5月20日的11793点跌至2008年12月5日的663点,6．5个月内下降率达94％。许多航运界人士从2002年下半年开始的干散货航运市场持续上升的“好梦”中惊醒。虽然在这期间市场也有过几次波动,但一直到2008年下半年,运价一直在高水平基础上呈持续上升趋势,其上升幅度之大、持续时间之长几乎是史无前例酌．     

2007年国际干散货运输市场预测

2006年的国际干散货运输市场呈现出前低后高、波动加大、投机日盛、心态走强、倒挂明显等特点,特别是投机炒作和心理预期使市场受到更多人为因素的影响。这种市场的新变化让很多年初预测悲观的机构大跌眼镜,也让很多船东痛失良机,充分说明当今的干散货运输市场影响因素众多,形势复杂。2007年已经到来,国际干散货运输市场出现的这些新变化将会继续影响市场走势,但是决定市场走势的根本仍是供需关系。从宏观环境、钢材生产、货运需求、运力供给等几个方面预测分析2007年国际干散货运输市场走势。     

2008年国际干散货运输市场展望

2007年是干散货市场的特殊年份,呈现出需求火暴、里程延长、压港严重和FFA市场过度炒作等特点,诸多因素导致干散货市场波动剧烈。2008年船舶严重压港和海运里程延长等支持市场强劲的因素依然会有明显体现,干散货市场仍处于需大于供的强势中。但美国次贷危机、中国宏观调控、远期运力大量交付压力、投机资本炒作干散货FFA的力度和方向等因素都会在一定程度上影响市场走势,市场的波动将更加剧烈。     

2006年国际干散货运输市场走势预测

2005年国际干散货运输市场总体表现为前高后低、中间大幅调整、波动剧烈等特征。对于2006年的市场走势,业界已达成调整下降的共识,但调整的幅度、下降的速度观点不一。通过宏观和微观两个方面分析世界和中国经济的发展、钢铁业的走势、需求与供给、市场面临的风险,综合预测2006年国际干散货运输市场的走势。     

沿海干散货运输市场预测及建议

通过数据详尽分析2009年沿海干散货运输市场的水运形势,同时根据电力行业、钢铁行业的发展对未来2-3年中国煤炭需求、金属矿石需求和干散货运输市场进行预测,建议重视集疏运系统建设,签订长期协议,提高合同兑现率。     

Predictability of the dry bulk shipping market by BIFFEX

When BIFFEX (Baltic International Freight Futures Exchange) came ijnto existence in 1985, many critics were perssimistic that it would have a successful future. In spite of the eight year's surival of BIFFEX, a recent empirical study shows that BIFFEX is not widely used a s a hedging tool ijn the shipping community, unlike the expectations and recommendations of many experts. one reason could be that BIFFEX may not be considered peredictive of the physical market and, therefore, investors might be suspicious of the hedging effect. The objective of this paper is to test this argument by exdamining the predicatability of BIFFEX in the dry bulk shipping market up to six months. Prior to the real situation, the explainable power ranges from 90% in a one-month advance to 23% in a six-month advance.     

A static theory of dry bulk freight rates by route

Trade flows subjected to a major upheaval are followed by a reorganized freight rate structure. Rate functions developed under the old regime are unlikely to perform well because they are implicitly based on the circulation of tonnage which no longer applies, for example fronthauls and backhauls. A gravity-type static model capable of estimating route-specific rate levels from trade matrix data is developed and tested with historical data. The rates are in index form which makes it possible to integrate data from several ship size segments (large capesize, small capesize, panamax, handysize) and years.     

国际干散货航运市场回顾与展望

自2003年10月份以来,国际干散货航运市场表现十分强劲,但从2005年的BDI指数走势来看,这种高景气度已有明显的见顶迹象,对于国际干散货航运市场能否持续高涨的行情,说法众多不一。首先对国际干散货航运市场进行回顾,并针对与干散货航运市场关系密切的世界经济以及国际干散货航运市场供需两方面进行分析,最后对2006年国际干散货航运市场的发展加以展望。     

国际干散货航运市场与世界经济的相关性

为掌握世界经济变化给国际干散货航运市场带来的影响,对影响国际干散货航运市场各主要因素和评价指标进行分析,应用灰色关联度分析法,对各指标与世界经济的关联度进行定量分析,得到与世界经济关联度最大的因素,反映整个国际干散货航运市场与世界经济的相关性。     

The empirical evidence of the leverage effect on volatility in international bulk shipping market

This paper mainly applies Nelson's EGARCH (Exponentially Generalized Autoregressive Conditional Heteroskedasticity) model to investigate the leverage effect in the presence of the international bulk shipping market. The daily return of three different types of bulk vessel in the sampling period selected has been examined. We find that all return series show a significantly negative relation in terms of return and volatility and the leverage effect on volatility is more significant in market downward movement than in market upward movement under the same magnitude of innovation, in addition, the larger vessels have much more leverage effect than smaller vessels contemporaneously. Therefore, it seems to be an inherent nature in the international bulk shipping market that the phenomenon of an asymmetric impact between past innovations and current volatility. This result from the investigation may provide investors with an insight into real characteristics of price return volatility, it is useful for investors to pre-arrange their portfolios of assets, risk management e.g. enabling them to achieve a reduction of investment risk and an increase of operation performance in profit gain.     

Delphi forecast of the dry bulk shipping industry in the year 2000

Technological forecasting in general, and the Delphi method in particular, are new decision making tools which so far have not gained wide acceptance in shipping circles.

An attempt was made to use the Delphi method to obtain the views of industry leaders on a host of issues governing dry bulk shipping. A three-round Delphi exercise became the basis for a scenario of the industry in the year 2000.

In addition to dating future events, the exercise tested the respondents' attitudes towards investment and innovation in the field of 'bulking' new edible commodities. The scenario and other data were used as input to the process of selecting an optimal vessel for the carriage of the relevant commodities.     

Efficient pricing of ships in the dry bulk sector of the shipping industry

The aim of this paper was to investigate the validity of the Efficient Market Hypothesis in conjunction with Rational Expectations in the formation of dry bulk ship prices over the period January 1976-December 1997. Tests for market efficiency include those of orthogonality and unpredictability of excess returns on investments and tests based on the Vector Autoregressive models proposed by Campbell and Shiller. The latter methodology is extended further to a 3-variable Vector Autoregressive model, which is applicable to real assets with limited economic life. Results indicate that prices for newbuilding and second-hand vessels are not determined efficiently in the sense of Fama. Failure of the Efficient Market Hypothesis in the formation of ship prices is explained by the existence of timevarying risk premia, which relate excess returns to investors' perceptions of risk. These are modelled through the Generalized Autoregressive Conditional Heteroscedasticity in mean (GARCH-M) models. The results have important implications for shipping investment strategies, both in the newbuilding and second-hand markets.     

国际干散货运输市场2010年回顾与2011年展望

2010年全球经济摆脱金融危机的冲击,逐渐进入缓慢复苏阶段。尽管复苏程度低于预期,但回升势头基本得到维持,并且发展中经济体在经济复苏过程中扮演重要角色。尤其是我国在金融危机过后主动转变经济增长方式,通过扩大内需刺激经济增长,预计全年GDP增长10．5％,带动亚洲乃至全世界的经济复苏。