Development of a sentiment measure for dry bulk shipping

We developed a market sentiment measure for freight markets of the dry bulk shipping segment. Initially, keywords with positive and negative sentiment connotation were identified, and their relative importance was estimated, by administering two surveys with industry stakeholders. Next, a self-developed search algorithm software was developed to scan over 9,500 articles in shipping press, during 2008–2018, in order to calculate keywords’ frequencies. Following the construction of the sentiment measure, its validity was assessed with a system of simultaneous equations. Among others, our empirical results indicate a bidirectional relationship between market sentiment and maritime seaborne economic activity. The findings yield important implications for practitioners in maritime shipping industry.