The Baltic Exchanges Baltic Dry Index (BDI) has collapsed falling nearly 34% since the start of December, and nearly 66% since its 2010 peak in May. So why is it different this time and, unless you are overweight shipping stocks, more or less irrelevant?

The answer lies in the size of the shipping fleet. When times for the sector were good shipping companies ordered an armada of new vessels, which aren’t built overnight. Many of these new orders began coming online in late 2009 with the rate of growth speeding up steadily throughout 2010. According to Lloyd’s Register Fairplay, the size of the global bulk fleet in terms of dead weight tons has jumped 26%, since the end of 2007—a good year for shippers when the BDI was over 6 times above its current level.

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http://seekingalpha.com/article/247261-vessel-glut-makes-bdi-irrelevant-as-economic-indicator