UPDATE 1-Grindrod H1 headline EPS to fall 50-60 pct

* Earnings hit hy weaker shipping markets

* Earnings also knocked by stronger rand

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JOHANNESBURG, July 1 (Reuters) - Africa's biggest shipping firm Grindrod (GNDJ.J) expects to report 50-60 percent decline in first-half headline earnings per share as global economic slowdown hit shipping volumes and rates.

Grindrod, which derives more than 80 percent of its profits from shipping resources such as iron ore, cement coal and fuel, said the results were further hit by the "substantially" stronger rand currency against the dollar.

The Baltic Exchange Index .BADI, which gauges the cost of shipping dry commodities, rose to a record 11,793 points last May but had plunged more than 90 percent by December as the economic downturn and fleet overcapacity took their toll.

Headline EPS is the main profit gauge in South Africa and strips out certain one-off, financial and non-trading items.

(Reporting by Tiisetso Motsoeneng)