Capesize (Atlantic and Pacific)
Theere have been several attempts to push the various rates up on Capesize sector but the volume remained scarce and the market was still very poor. The BCI of last week closed at 1,922, about 214 points up, the average of the 4 T/c routes improved of only $ 2,210 per day; the fronthaul rates closed at $ 29,904 and the backhaul rates at only $ 4,227 daily. The iron ore from West Australia to China run touched $ 7.00/mt which equates to about $ 10,000 daily on T/c basis. Timecharter activity was negligible although there were rumours of having done something in the $ 29,000 daily for a BCI type. The holiday season, in addition, is not helping this market sector either.
Panamax (Atlantic and Pacific)
Not available this week.
Handy (Far East/Pacific)
A firmer trade was seen in this area both for Supramaxes and smaller Handies. The larger units were seen to be mostly busy on North Pacific rounds on which daily timecharter rates were peaked to high $18,000's for a large modern eco delivering dop Japan, a few similar enough units booked similar business in the $18,000 daily level. Market showed to be beneficial also for owners of smaller Handies which were enjoying very reasonable rates on local trips and NoPac rounds even though a modern 28,000 tonner ballasting out of the Indian Ocean was caught at cheaper rate from passing Singapore via Australia into China.
Handy (North Europe/Mediterranean)
Scrap kept dominating the North European market now bringing also a positive influence to the Atlantic market in general. Fertilizer export to Americas was smaller. Activity out of the Black Sea showed some awakening with a large modern eco fetching very high $20,000's for a trip into the Far East. Ukrainian customs requiring additional testing on export wheat cargoes has generated a loading paralysis for this commodity which brought fresh interference to the market trend.
Handy (USA/N.Atlantic/Lakes/S.America)
South American market started picking up on smaller Handies in inter-Atlantic business which also quickly reflected on the larger units. Trans-Atlantic volume of cargo to be shipped kept rising compared to the eastbound. And nowadays it turned out to be a smarter deal for owners to keep their tonnage trading in this basin rather than go to the East for a few thousand dollars premium. Unfortunately trading out of US/North Coast South American ports kept being worse for owners with Supramax rates remaining in the mid $20,000's daily. After several days of absence on this trade a 50,000 tonner was reported booked on a long duration trip to India at $28,000. If the eastbound trade resume it will likely to bring additional vitality to all rates from this area.
Handy (Indian Ocean/South Africa)
Demand for moving iron ore from India to China was slow again, but larger activity was seen for Supramax size coal from South Africa to MEG and India. The traditional $13,000 daily seemed not to be sufficient anymore for charterers to fix while a very large 61,000 dwt Supramax was reported at a strong $17,000 daily rate. Activity for smaller units was much weaker and Handymax owners ended up fixing business via South Africa at softer rates while owners of smaller Handies struggled to fix at all.
Banchero Costa and Co Spa
Mail: research@bancosta.it
Web: www.bancosta.it