ACM Shipping Group expects its dry bulk broking business to grow in the coming months despite potential problems facing the sector, the company's chief executive said.

Flooding in Australia, the world's biggest coal exporter, has disrupted shipping activity at a time when the bulker market is already pressured by growing vessel deliveries ordered before the economic turmoil of 2008.

ACM, listed on London's AIM junior stock market, acquired Australia's Endeavour Shipbrokers last year as part of its push into the bulk sector.

"The prospects are actually very good for dry bulk ship broking on the basis that it's a diversification from what ACM has always done which is the tanker market," CEO Johnny Plumbe told Reuters. "We have great growth prospects.

"Buying Endeavour was part of what we are doing as whole in dry cargo ship broking. What it has done is enhance our earnings immediately," he said on the sidelines of a shipping conference in London.

ACM now has dry bulk broking teams in Australia, London and Shanghai with a total of 30 people including back up staff. The group has an additional 130 staff globally involved in its tanker broking operations, Plumbe said.

"We are building something from scratch apart from the Endeavour acquisition -- it will take a little bit of time. We have very high hopes for it," Plumbe said referring to the dry bulk business.

The Baltic dry freight index has fallen to its lowest in nearly two years in recent days hit by a build up of vessel availability.

Weather-related problems in Colombia, South Africa, Russia and Indonesia were also compounding coal shipment disruptions and have hit sentiment for larger capesize vessels, which typically haul 150,000 tonne cargoes such as iron ore and coal.

"Obviously there are slight hiccups -- the tragedy in Australia has for time being affected the dry bulk market," Plumbe said.

"But we actually believe that what will happen is because of all the potential delays and the consumption of tonnage being delayed there could be a slight rise in the market going into the end of the second quarter, third quarter on the handy and the supramax market."

Analysts say the smaller supramax and handysize vessels have more flexibility to diversify their cargoes to other commodities such as sugar and grains.

"On capesizes, nobody seems to really have a definite opinion but we all know there is a number of ships that has come and is coming to the market," Plumbe said. (Reuters)