Despite the forecasts, 2014 was not the year of the recovery for the shipbuilding industry. Without a strong world economy, the fleet utilization rate remained steady although considerable differences amongst the various market segments came to light: a favourable trend for LPG and tankers while bulk carriers recorded a drop. The volatility of freight rates, as characterized last year, arose from endogenous industrial factors due to American shale oil production, which provoked an increase in the LPG shipments and, as a consequence, a drop in the oil price, although the extraction levels remained constant. In the bulk segment, the swing in the Chinese energetic policy led to a reduction in coal consumption while the ban for Indonesia to export bauxite and nickel contributed to the drop of freight rates.