Dry bulk owners seem to be resisting the temptation of ordering new ships despite currently low newbuilding prices for dry bulk ships that have just passed the lows of 2012 and are now at the lowest level since 2003, according to BIMCO.

"The fact that ship owners have refrained from ordering new dry bulk ships despite the low newbuilding prices is positive for the future dry bulk market," said Chief Shipping Analyst at BIMCO, Peter Sand.

"However, for there to be an actual shorter-term improvement in the market we would need to see a spike in demand or a substantial reduction of the fleet."

All in all, dry bulk contracting has gone down substantially in 2015 compared to 2014. So far this year, the total volume of new contracts placed at yards in one of the three big shipbuilding nations China, South Korea and Japan is just 11.3 million DWT. This compares to 58 million DWT of dry bulk capacity contracted last year in the same three nations.

China having been the largest producer of dry bulk ships in recent years has also experienced the most significant drop this year. Chinese yards have only signed contracts for 2.5m DWT of new dry bulk ships this year. In 2014, the full-year total was 34 million DWT.