Freight rates for breakbulk and heavy lift cargoes still haven't bottomed out and aren't likely to recover until 2015 at the earliest, a leading industry executive said.
Heavy lift rates have fallen to around $90 per ton from $150 two years ago and "could go to $65," according to Fred Bernard Bedford, member of the board of Jumbo Shipping.
Rates are under "considerable pressure" due to a mounting oversupply of tonnage, aggravated by a lack of finance for big industrial and petrochemical projects, Bedford told the BreakBulk Europe conference here.
