Last week we looked at the problems that the lack of credit was causing in the shipping industry - today the FT reports that they are getting worse:

Since short-term dry bulk charter rates fell 71.9 per cent in October, traders and shipowners have worried that traders might be caught out by the speed and severity of the fall...London-based, New York-listed Britannia Bulk, which has been hit by its exposure to speculative FFA trading, put its British operating subsidiary into administration on Friday. It is the first quoted shipping company to suffer such a blow during the current downturn.

Duncan Dunn, senior director in the futures division of London’s Simpson, Spence & Young shipbrokers, said the market’s rapid fall would have left anyone betting on upward movements needing to make substantial payments...The market uncertainty stems partly from the complex chains of transactions in the market and the lack of clarity about different companies’ FFA trading.

It is widely expected that hedge funds could be particularly badly hit.

Lack of transparency, poor risk management, unexpected volatility, huge exposures - all sounds very familiar.