The main global freight index will rebound in the second half of this year to average 1,500 points, driven by a recovery in Australian coal exports and strong shipping demand.

Industry experts said that dry bulk freight rates have slowly inched up from a two-year low in February as major commodity producers ramp up exports of iron ore, coal and grains, alleviating some of the pressure from an oversupplied market.

The median of the poll of shipbrokers, shipowners and analysts showed the Baltic Dry Index would average 1,500 points from July through December, up 15% from Friday's close of 1,306.

Mr Doug Garber analyst at FBR Capital Markets said that "The exceptionally weak day rates in the dry bulk market in the first quarter of 2011 were due to weather disruptions around the globe. We expect that to reverse over the coming months.”

Mr Garber said that shipments of iron ore and coal declined by 50 million tonnes in the first quarter or 11% below average due to bad weather in Australia and Brazil, export permit delays in Indonesia, and supply bottlenecks in South Africa.

Iron ore and coal are the two biggest commodities in the dry bulk industry, each representing about 30 percent of the market.

The market was most affected by the devastating floods in Australia's eastern Queensland state, which lost up to 30 million tonnes of coal production. A senior broker working for a major Chinese shipping company said that "Most of Australia's coal output will be coming back online later this year and that will allow exports to get back to normal again.”

(Sourced from Reuters)