The most important defence at Norden against the worst consequences of the collapsed dry bulk market is the carrier's fleet of product tankers, and these have been significantly weakened during 2016, where especially the second quarter this year was surprisingly bad, based on the first half-year interim reports from several tanker carriers. Meanwhile, the development in the international dry bulk industry has only worsened in the first half of this year, in spite of a short-lived recovery and marginal gains in the trend-setting Baltic Dry Index.