Monday, January 11, 2016

Baltic Dry Index Crashes. The Global Economy Is Coming To A Standstill


Aliage Ship breakers dock, when unemployed ships go to die (Image source)


Baltic Dry Index Crashes. The Global Economy Is Coming To A Standstill
11 January, 2016

Skip to update: Cheaper To 'Buy' A Dry Bulk Freight Tanker Than A Starbucks Coffee 
24 April, 2016

While we are able to post soothing messages about the volatility in world stock markets, the crazy fluctuations in currency, they ever sinking price of oil at the well head and they way we seem to be returning to using gold as the international currency, because all these markets are rigged and statistics are meaningless, there is little we can say about the state of the Baltic Dry Index other than, "Be afraid, be very afraid." Since we reported a few weeks ago that the index which is a guide to the pricing of marine transport costs for various categories of dry goods.

And it isn't just marine cargo movement that is causing concern

As we explained then, prices in The Baltic Dry Index are determined by the amount of marine cargo capacity available versus the volume of goods needing to be transported.

Since our last report the index has continued to fall, it seems ship owners cannot give away space in their ships holds.

As Dollar Vigilante's Jeff Berwick reports, it appears the worldwide 'real' economy has ground to a halt!!

Last week a contact in The City Of London financial community told me he knew many brokers who had no ships at sea right now, because operating them meant running at a loss.

This week, reports are circulating saying much the same thing: The North Atlantic has little or no cargo ships traveling in its waters. Instead, they are anchored. Unmoving. Empty.

You can see one such report here.

So what is going on, surely it cannot be that no goods are moving. But according to the We checked VesselFinder.com and it appears to show no ships in transit anywhere in the world." website, that is exactly the case.

The world’s economy seems in serious trouble. As all of us have said, nations can’t print money to deflate their way out of recession. All you are doing is hollowing out your economy. Draining it. And sooner or later it’s empty and you have to start a again after several years of chaos, hardship and social breakdown.

It’s no coincidence that The Baltic Dry is down as China is struggling to contain a stock market collapse. The Chinese economic boom has depended on exports to the west of goods formerly made in western economies until some fuckwit economic hit on the idea that corporate profits could be increased if we exported all our jobs to low labour cost economies while the newly unemployed working classes consumed more.

Keep your eye on this shipping story! If it is true and worldwide shipping is disastrously foundering, it’ll only be a matter of weeks before grocery store shelves will reflect that.

UPDATE
from Zero Hedge, 24 April 2016

Cheaper To 'Buy' A Dry Bulk Freight Tanker Than A Starbucks Coffee



Just 3 short months ago, we detailed how - thanks to the collapse in China's growth and massive commodity inventory gluts, the cost of renting a Dry Bulk Tanker was less than the cost of renting a ferrari for a day...

As Bloomberg reported at the time,

Rates for Capesize-class ships plummeted 92 percent since August to $1,563 a day amid slowing growth in China. That’s less than a third of the daily rate of 3,950 pounds ($5,597) to rent a Ferrari F40, the price of which has also fallen slightly in the past few years, according to Nick Hardwick, founder of supercarexperiences.com.

The Baltic Exchange’s rates reflect the cost of hiring the vessel but not fuel costs. Ships burn about 35 metric tons a day, implying a cost of about $4,000 at present prices, data compiled by Bloomberg show.

One would think, considering how much the Baltic Dry Index has 'surged' off its all-time record lows - and the noise being spewed by Cramer et al. that this is somehow indicative of the "big comeback" in the Chinese (and world) economies - that the situation would have improved... But it has not!

For the cost of $1 - less than the price of a Grande Black Coffee at Starbucks - you too can be the owner of a 58,429 deadweight tonne bulk carrier...

Read all at Zero Hedge >>>



RELATED POSTS:

READ MORE ON: Baltic >> China >> Finance >> Money >> Trade

Secret ECB Docs Warn Of More Financial Mayhem on the Horizon

A recent agreement between the European Central Bank (ECB) and the central banks of the Eurozone member nations raises the prospect of EU taxpayers being forced to pay for more bailouts, German newspaper Die Welt reports.


If You Look At How Fast Global Trade Is Unravelling, You'll Get Dizzy
Governments constantly make positive noises about the health of their economies although most people who are in work have felt no improvement on the position they were in after the crash of 2008. Wagest are stangnant, employment has reduced somewhat (see below) and while the banks are printing money and the super rich are widening the gap between themselves and ordinary people faster than ever, the real situation is frightening.

Feeding the monster - The debt economy
American dollar dumped
Market rigging in the debt economy
The debt threat to civilisation
The failure of the money printing solution
More money magic
Naked Finance - the secret of derivatives trading
Feeding the monster - The debt economy
More money magic
Naked Finance - the secret of derivatives trading
Feeding the monster - The debt economy

Elsewhere: [Boggart Blog]...[Little Nicky Machiavelli]... [ Ian's Authorsden Pages ]... [Scribd]...[Wikinut] ... [ Boggart Abroad] ... [ Grenteeth Bites ] ... Ian Thorpe at Flickr ] ... [ Tumblr ] ... [Ian at Minds ] ... [ The Original Boggart Blog] ... [ Authorsden blog ]

Will The 3.5mm Jack Be The Worm That Rots The Apple?



Following rumours that Apple Inc. was planning to replace the standard 3.5mm jack socket on its amusing gadgets, starting with the iPhone 7, hudreds of thousands of users have signed a petition asking the company to reconsider. This humble plug, which has been a de facto standard for electronic technology since the nineteenth century, is a rare example of technology that has stood the test of time in an industry that depends on obsolescence to maintain its revenue flows.

Considering the move has not been confirmed by Apple and therefore is to date only an unsubstantiated rumour, a lot of people are already getting upset about the new iPhone. If Apple go ahead and scrapping the 3.5mm socket, people who buy new gadgets will have to buy headphones with proprietary jack plugs that can be plugged into the "Lightning" port - the company's own design of socket.

Cynics have pointed out that while the change might enable iPhones to be slightly thinner, it will render many headphones useless and force headphone manufacturers to pay Apple a licence fee to use their Lightning plugs on products.

The petition says Apple's purported move would "singlehandedly create mountains of electronic waste".

The original 'quarter-inch' jack, which the 3.5mm jack is a compact version of, was first introduced for use with early, manual telephone switchboards.


RELATED POSTS:
Wikileaks Vault7 Release Reveals CIA Contamination Of Apple Devices
The Spy In Your Smartphone
An article in OS news opens by saying those of us with experience in digital technology have known about the nasties hidden in your internet enabled computers and gadgets for years.This is absolutely true. Why did people like me not sound the alarm then, you might well ask?
Apple I Pad con
Apple SPi Phone
Internet of Things
Cell Phone Fascism - tech surveillance
The great Internet obsolete technology scam

Elsewhere: [Boggart Blog]...[Little Nicky Machiavelli]... [ Ian's Authorsden Pages ]... [Scribd]...[Wikinut] ... [ Boggart Abroad] ... [ Grenteeth Bites ] ... Ian Thorpe at Flickr ] ... [ Tumblr ] ... [Ian at Minds ] ... [ The Original Boggart Blog] ... [ Authorsden blog ]