ARGENTINA.
SHIPPING CRISIS.
At the moment in Argentina and Brazil, there is a glut of shipping vessels and very little cargo. In what is known as the slack time between November and March.
Global shipping is facing the worse crisis in decades, cargo rates have fallen by 90% since July of this year and the shipping boom has turned to bust.
There is no doubt that the rural sectors of Argentina and Brazil, are gaining in the short term, the problem is whether the shipping companies will be able to recover.
The Greek shipping lines, are the largest in the worlds, followed by Japan, the governments of both countries are in a state of panic, over the short term future of global shipping.
Dry cargo vessels, that could command US$150,000 a day in May, are now taking US$7,000 a day and delighted to get it.
The Genco shipping company, cancelled a US$530 million deal for 6 new vessels last week, forfeiting 10% of the value or US$53 million.
Analysts believe that 30% of new vessel orders, could be cancelled before the end of 2008.
The Royal Bank of Scotland, that has just required a US$20 billion government bail out, is one of the worlds largest lenders to the Greek shipping industry.
