Dry bulk shipping will return to balance only in about 2014, one of the world’s leading shipowners has said as the market undergoes its most severe downturn in decades.

Taiwan’s Nobu Su said large-scale scrapping of older ships was needed to correct oversupply. The Baltic Dry Index, which measures the price of chartering dry bulk vessels on the short-term spot market, had fallen 92.8 per cent by Friday from a record 11,793 points on May 20.