Not exactly - three years ago the shipping demand hit an all time high. Large container companies began building new never-before-seen super cargo ships which c

Not exactly - three years ago the shipping demand hit an all time high. Large container companies began building new never-before-seen super cargo ships which can carry an enormous amount of cargo. These ships rolled out of the production line earlier this year and have had a very heavy impact on shipping. The slowdown in the Chinese economy compounded this, as China is one of the largest users of shipping. As the Chinese economy picks up and global trade values continue to rise with growing populations, this effect should decrease and you should see shipping prices rise. Compounding this is that smaller shipping companies are being merged into larger ones as the low prices make their business unsustainable. So you can also expect this index to spike rapidly in the future as consolidation occurs.