As the charts on this page from Clarksons make clear, it’s a brave person who would buy a bulk carrier right now. Prices are coming off in line with a cooling market. Tankers, on the other hand, are a completely different story, leaping in price amid myriad buoyant analyst reports.

Clarksons’ global seaborne trade indicator gives a good impression of why dry bulk carriers are so out of fashion all of a sudden. Overall, year-to-date volumes are down slightly (-0.5% year-on-year), but dry bu...