For the 56th day of the last 58, The Baltic Dry Index dropped. At 509, this is now down over 65% from the dead cat bounce highs in November 2014 and - yet again - a new all-time record low for the cost of shipping freight. It is no surprise then that, as Lloydlist reports, bulker newbuilding orders slumped in January. When the Baltic Dry tumbled in 2012, the glut of ships then caused a 49% plunge in orders for shipbuilding - as JPMorgan said at the time, "you just have too many yards and too few orders," and given the artificial signals provided by credit-inflated commodities since, we can only imagine the overhang now. What happened in 2012 when the BDIY dropped... China has too many ships. The glut has pushed new vessel prices to eight-year lows and caused a 49 percent plunge in first-half orders at the nation’s more than 1,500 shipbuilders. It’s also tipped smaller yards into bankruptcy and hit earnings at larger players. “It is a pretty depressing environment,” said Ajay Mirchandani, a Singapore-based JPMorgan Chase & Co. analyst. “You just have too many yards and too few orders, which is hurting pricing and profitability.” Orders have tumbled as a global excess of commodity, oil and container ships has damped cargo rates and deterred owners from ordering more vessels. And today is far worse - the building has been driven by the artificial boom in commodity prices influenced by the exuberant money printing largesses of the world's central banks... A SLUMP in bulker newbuildings was recorded during January, with analysts linking the decline to the current dismal state of the dry bulk market. Greece-based Intermodal Research and Valuations, which prepares a monthly report on global shipping, reported just 20 new orders for bulk carriers. It is just starting...