Taiwan's Nobu Su told the Financial Times 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 plummeted 92.8 per cent by Friday from a record 11,793 points on May 20.

The past two years have seen almost no scrapping of even the oldest bulk carriers, leaving a large overhang of ageing ships. “If major players scrap their fleets, you will see the right market in 2014,” Mr Su said.

Mr Su meanwhile said rumours that his own company, privately held TMT, was facing financial difficulties were “a joke”. Many dry bulk companies are being squeezed between the low short-term rates on offer to move cargoes and the high rates they pay to charter some vessels long-term from other owners.