Mercator Lines’ losses ballooned to $10.15m in Q3

The market rate for its vessels plunged 34%.

Mercator Lines Singapore reported that its losses almost doubled to $10.15m (US$7.5m) in the third quarter, compared to a loss of $4.33m (US$3.23m) in the same period last year.

The company blamed its losses on the crash in the Baltic Dry Index (BDI). The BDI dropped to 782 points as on 31 December 2014 as against a high of 2277 points on 31 December 2013, while the average market rate for Panamax vessels slipped 34% year-on-year.

The key factors that affected the dry bulk freight market recovery were lower port congestion, the lack of coal demand from China, the after-effect of the stockpiling ahead of the Indonesian ban on raw ore exports, slower Chinese growth and the continued fleet expansion.